


The Life of Kari Kamiya

by leonardo1123581321



Series: The Tamerverse [3]
Category: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02 - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, Drabble, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Hurt, Series, Short Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-14 20:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16919811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonardo1123581321/pseuds/leonardo1123581321
Summary: A story of hurt and loss, comfort and hope, acceptance and moving forward. This is the life of Kari Kamiya after her brother disappeared. A companion story to The Tamer - A Digimon Adventure.





	1. Don't Make Me Say Good Bye

She wanted them to believe her. She wished they would believe her. But she was just a kid. How could they believe her? Why should they believe her?

When she told them of monsters, they said it was just her imagination. Her imagination trying to protect her from what happened.

When she told them he was alive, they said she was in denial. Her mind trying to suppress the truth to protect her.

When she told them it happened, they told her to stop. That she couldn't run from reality and she would have to come to terms with what happened.

She had never known her parents to be so angry, and could only cry when she saw the faces they gave her - the anger in their eyes and the hurt they were feeling. When they realized what they'd done, the held her in their arms and smothered in kisses to apologize - promising to never do it again and admitting that they missed her brother too. That they felt the same grief and sorrow she was feeling.

When that dark day came, they dressed her in a little black dress and held a ceremony to say good bye. She didn't want to say farewell because she didn't want to believe he was gone. When the time came to bow in front of his picture, she ran away to hide from the dreary event.

It was his best friend who found her crying, and comforted her - assured her that her tears meant that she really cared for her brother. She could see it in his best friend's eyes - she didn't believe what she was saying and she missed him too. For his friend and what they meant to each other, she dried her tears and calmed down. She didn't want to say goodbye, but she would to help his friend.

They walked back together hand in hand and when the time came she said the words she dreaded - as if admitting it was true. His friend assured her it would take time, but one day she would be able to move. The poor little sister kept her thoughts private, knowing that saying them out loud would come back to bite her. Although she'd said the words with her mouth, she didn't mean them with her heart. They would never make her say goodbye.

 


	2. Moving Forward

_"It's been, one week since you looked at me_

_Cocked your head to the side and said you're angry._

_Five days since you laughed at me saying,_

_'Get back together, come back and see me.'_

_Three days since the living room,_

_I realized it's all my fault but couldn't tell you_

_Yesterday, you'd forgiven me_

_But it'll still be two days 'til I say 'I'm sorry'_

Izzy turned down the volume on the radio so that he wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. He'd been busy scouring the internet and hadn't stopped since their adventure in the Digital World. Although it had only been one week since they'd returned, it felt like ages past and it was weird how quickly life resumed some semblance of normalcy. The effects of Myotismon's invasion were still felt everywhere, as crews worked to clear out the debris of damaged buildings and teams were still looking for survivors in ruin.

The internet, which Izzy had been scouring since their return, was abuzz with conspiracy theories, stories of encounters with digimon, and all kinds of speculation over what had really happened. Forums, social networking sites, web blogs, image boards and more were filled with nonstop chatter about the digimon and the Digital World appearing in the sky.

Most of it was hate fueled paranoia, and Izzy couldn't blame them after what Myotismon had done along with what many had lost. It whipped into a frenzy for new weapons, a stronger military, and counter measures to prevent another invasion. A few expressed hopeful idealism about first contact with life from another world and wanted to use that to begin the search for more worlds. Izzy chimed in a few times to share his own thoughts, always refraining from bringing up his own experiences in the Digital World, but was usually called out as a delusional and idealistic youth who couldn't see the danger that was present. Thankfully, he'd found some refuge in an IRC being used by members of one forum to talk about the positive implications of what had transpired.

Izzy took a deep breath and sighed as he opened up another window to visit another website. As soon as he typed in the address, a pop up window appeared and began running some unfamiliar code to him. This caught his attention and he quietly mused to himself, "Okay, that's new. Better stop this before it breaks my computer."

As soon as he said that, he noticed the code switched to a series of 1s and 0s flying past his screen at high speed. After a few minutes, the code started to form shapes and pattern until stabilizing in the shape of a circle. Izzy was already trying to close the window to no avail, as well as end terminating the program. He tried running his antivirus software but it seemed stuck in the startup process - leaving him stuck watching the strange code as it continued to execute itself. After a few minutes, it finally took the shape of an egg. The egg's surface stretched and cracked as the newborn tried to escape the shell. Izzy blinked in disbelief, recognizing the digiegg and wondering what digimon he just saw be born.

He looked back over to the IRC he was on and noticed others posting similar experiences. A foreign program was running on its own on all of their screens and none of them were able to stop it. He tried typing into the IRC, but the influx of voices drowned his out in the chat. Izzy held his breath as the egg finally hatched and he saw a little orange eye peek out from within. It blinked and Izzy blinked back.

A new window appeared beside it to display the word 'Hello'.

"Hi," Izzy said quietly.

* * *

Kari stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her pink dress so that it looked nice and brushing her hair with help from her mother. Only a week had passed since her trip to the Digital World and the invasion of the monsters, but to her it seemed the world had carried on like nothing happened. Or mostly like it didn't happen. There were still buildings being cleared and other that had been destroyed.

To her surprise and her mother's astonishment, their father had come looking for them after the invasion, deeply worried that they were in danger and that the monsters had gotten to them. He'd met them shortly after Kari returned from the Digital World with the other digidestined. Despite all the arguing she'd known them to do before they were separated, her parents were oddly kind to each other if awkward. The two knew they'd left things on uncertain terms and weren't sure how to pick up even though it was what they both wanted.

They weren't sure how much of what transpired to tell him and limited it only to what they could back up. They knowingly left out the part about Tai, since it would be impossible to prove without him there. After learning that their home had been destroyed, he asked them to come stay with him for as long as they needed. Kari and her mother noticed the warmth in his voice when he offered, as if he was trying to say that he wanted to pick things up where they'd left off.

Her father had gone in to work that day as his work was now behind schedule because of recent events, leaving the two of them at home to get ready for a friend's birthday party. It wasn't much, but Kari's mom managed to scrounge enough money to use as a present, even if it was just 1000 yen. It was the most her mother had been able to put together after losing everything when their home was destroyed, but it was enough for a simple birthday card with some change for her friend to get something nice.

They heard a knock at their door and found family friend Sora Takenouchi standing there, ready to walk Kari to her friend's birthday party. They exchanged a few pleasantries and her mother begged her to be careful, making her promise to call as soon as she got to her friend's place. Kari nodded and checked one last time for the card, the birthday money, and her small digivice. She'd kept it close since their trip to the Digital World - mostly because it reminded her of the time she'd spent with Gatomon and Tai. She headed out with Sora - a girl who was a few years older and the best friend of her older brother. Or was the best friend of her older brother.

Kari didn't like to think about it but her brother lost all of his memories during his time in the Digital World. The reason she didn't like to think about it was because she knew that despite that, her brother was still in there somewhere. Part of him still treated her the way he did before he'd gotten lost in another world. And it hurt her, depressed her whenever she thought about how he would still be lost but now somewhere she couldn't go - meaning that she may never see him again.

She smiled at Sora once they were down onto the street, saying, "Thanks for taking me to the party Sora."

Sora smiled back and brushed the girl's hair, "Of course. Are you excited for your friend's party?"

"Yeah," Kari forced a sheepish smile, "I haven't been able to see her much this summer because I was sick. But I've been feeling better ever since we went to the Digital World."

Sora's expression became more concerned and Kari hoped she didn't mention the forced smile. It quickly became warm again, "That's good. I bet she'll be happy to see you too."

As the two kept walking, neither of them noticed the electronics acting up - the traffic lights sending signals into disarray, the radioes being distorted by static, or the televisions in the windows suddenly displaying the same image of a one eyed baby jellyfish.

She waved goodbye after dropping her off, and Kari met a few other friends there for the party. They were all happy to see her after her lengthy illness and were even happier to see each other alive. Some were concerned that they wouldn't see each other again, which made this party all the more important. They all went to their friend's door at once and rang the doorbell to greet the excited girl.

* * *

Sora kicked off her shoes as soon as she was back home, greeting her mother who was busy in the kitchen washing dishes. She'd noted Kari's somber look but felt it would be better to leave it alone - since she was pretty sure what it was about. Sora just managed to sit down to watch TV when there was a knock on the door. There, she found Izzy standing there with his laptop under his arm, red in the face, and gasping heavily for breath, "Izzy. What's wrong? You're all sweaty."

"The egg! The egg hatched! A digiegg! Internet!" Izzy gasped out incomplete sentences that left Sora blinking and confused. After letting Izzy in to get a drink of water, he set up his laptop in her father's office and connected to his work computer to show her the image on screen. A strange little jellyfish moved back and forth with a playful look in its eyes while Izzy explained what happened. After his lengthy story, he finished, "I don't think it's a danger right now. It just seems to be hanging out on this one website and eating data."

"What do you mean eating data?" Sora asked. Izzy pointed out a date on the page, "This is a forum, right? So these posts contain the date and times they were posted. This forum was active until only a few minutes ago, but it says the last post was two months ago. That's because the digimon ate all the posts after this one. And there goes that post."

"It ate two months worth of data like that? Shouldn't we do something about it? Why don't we just put it in the Recycle Bin and press delete?" Sora suggested, throwing out more questions than answers. Izzy looked at her and explained, "I already tried that! It didn't work. I tried notifying my family's service provider but they didn't believe me. They wanted to sign it up for a free one month trial."

"You'd think they'd take it more seriously," Sora frowned, noting Izzy's response, "We're just kids. They're not going to take anything we do seriously."

No sooner did he say that, but the computer made a beeping noise and a new window opened to display a single message - 'Koromon! Digivolve to! Tsumemon!"

The little jellyfish became pixelated and the screen flashed white before it was replaced by a new creature - something resembling a blue hand with long pointed nails and a large eye. Sora blinked at the recent digivolution and commented, "Well, that's not good."

"I looked up this digimon in the database back when it first showed up," Izzy said, "As it is now, it's pretty weak and it will be until it gets to at least the rookie level. But at this rate, it could reach its Mega level soon and then we're in trouble. According to Tamer's people, this type of digimon is just as strong as the Dark Masters."

She blinked, "What's the big deal, though? It's not like eating a few comments on the internet will do any harm."

"Sora, everything these days is done with computers and data. Cash transfers, stocks, communications through phone services, military satellites...oh crap! If this digimon gets into an army computer, who knows what will happen!" Izzy panicked. Sora looked at the little digimon crawling back and forth on the screen, feeling the sting of panic finally reach her, "We can do something about it, right?"

"Not without our digimon," Izzy replied. Sora frowned, "So we just sit here and watch this thing destroy the internet? That blows! I wish Biyomon were here."

"You have mail," Izzy's computer said. He opened the email in a new window and blinked, "I don't know this address and the subject is blank. How did this get past my spam filter? Oh. Uh, Sora."

"Yeah," Sora looked over at the email on screen and gasped in surprise at the message. She read aloud, "'Wish granted'. What does that mean?"

"Sora? Sora is that you!?" She heard the familiar voice of a little pink bird. Sora looked around to make sure she hadn't gone crazy, then heard Izzy say, "What's this? There's a new program running on my laptop! Is that even possible?"

He opened another window and it showed something resembling a video feed. The video display a small white room with a single door packed full of their tiny digimon partners. The little pink bird jumped up excitedly on seeing them, "Sora! Sora! It really is you! I'm so happy to see you!"

"Biyomon!" Sora nearly shouted, grabbing hold of the screen excitedly, "This isn't a video, right Izzy? This is real! That's Biyomon?"

Izzy clicked away at his keyboard to open a command terminal, "It doesn't look like one. I wonder if this has anything to do with the database on my computer. I'm going to run a diagnostic to make sure that digimon hasn't done anything to-"

"Yep. That's Izzy. Only he could talk like that," Tentomon cheered happily, "Oh, I missed his alien speak."

"It's good to see you too Tentomon! I thought the boundary between worlds was sealed. So how did you get in there?" Izzy asked, bringing any joy their reunion had to a screeching halt. Palmon shrugged, "Don't look at us. We were helping rebuild Koromon Village when suddenly there was this bright flash of light. Next thing we know, we're here in this room. Where is here, anyway?"

"My computer," Izzy said, "It's...really weird actually."

"No way. This room is much bigger than your computer," Gomamon pointed out. Gatomon scoffed, "It probably is. Let's face it! This has The Digimon Tamer and Agumon written all over it."

"You think so?" Gabumon asked with doubt, "I don't see it."

"Bright flash of light and suddenly we're not where we were a second ago? Possibly on another world? Oh yeah," Gatomon nodded proceeding over to the door, "Which means behind here will be a-"

She pushed it open and was greeted by a flurry on 1s and 0s zipping past at high speed. Sometimes there were words and symbols mixed in, along with the occasional image. Beyond the mess, they could see an even bigger white space that gave them a headache. Gatomon finished her sentence, "Big headache. Izzy! The crap are we looking at?"

"That looks like the internet," Izzy guessed, seeing the logo of a familiar company whip past, "Prodigious. I've always wondered how all this data would manifest physically. I just wish I could see what you guys are seeing."

Gomamon made his way over to the door, "I don't know what this internet is but you're not missing much. Just two naked humans who look like they're wrestling. Huh, that lady's gotta open her mouth more if she wants to eat that guy."

"I don't think that's what you think it is," Gatomon commented quietly. Sora quickly changed the subject, "Anyway...I'm happy to see you guys but we need your help! There's a digimon loose on the internet in our world and we need your help to stop it!"

"A digimon? How did that happen?" Biyomon wondered.

"I'm telling you, Tamer and Agumon," Gatomon rolled her eyes. Tentomon ignored her, "Well, I for one would be more than glad to help. Do you still have your digivices?"

Izzy flashed his digivice to them, "Always! Sora?"

Sora looked at the computer whiz, happy that she wasn't the only one who kept her digivice on her. She pulled it from her pocket, "Let's save our world!"

"Alright!" the digimon said together. Palmon looked at them directly, "So...where's Mimi?"

"She's not here. Don't worry. I'll go call the others and get them here as soon as we can! You guys just be ready to join once they're here!" Sora nodded to them before running out to start making calls to the other digidestined. Before they left each other a week ago, they'd decided to trade addresses and phone numbers in case they needed each other again.

First she called Joe, only to learn that he was busy at a prep school studying for high school entrance exams. She didn't have time to track him down and pull him away from school, so she tried Matt and TK next. Their parents had sort of started living together since their dad lost his job when it was blown up. Her call was answered by their mom who said they'd been sent to spend a week with their grandmother so that she and her ex could sort a few things out. She gladly offered their grandmother's number but that call didn't go anywhere useful.

She dialed the number and was greeted by the elder lady's voice. She explain, "Hi! My name is Sora, I'm a friend of Matt and TK's."

"Oh, those are my grand children," she replied. Sora said, "Can you tell them Sora is on the phone?"

"The phone has sores?"

"No, my name is Sora and I'm on the phone," Sora tried again. Her grandmother replied, "I know I'm on the phone."

"Can I please talk to your grandsons?" Sora asked almost pleadingly, losing patience with the older woman. The older woman replied, "Oh, I like talking to them. They're such good boys. I think I'll go do that."

Before Sora could answer, the phone hung up and she was left wondering just how anyone could think it was a good idea to put kids in that woman's care. She tried dialing the number again, hoping that their grandmother didn't pick up and was relieved to hear Matt's voice, "Hello?"

"Matt! It's Sora!" she sighed in relief. Matt's voice repeated, "Sora? Oh, now it makes sense. TK! Grandma meant to say 'Sora is on the phone', not 'sores on the bone'."

She giggled when she heard TK sheepishly say, "She got sort of close."

"So what's up Sora?" Matt asked, "I didn't think I'd hear from you for a while."

"There's a digimon loose on the internet and it's eating a lot of data. We need your help to stop it. Our digimon are on Izzy's computer ready to do what they can but they'll need your digivices to digivolve," Sora explained, hoping that Matt would be able to help. He was silent on his end for a second but replied, "We have our digivices but...what do you mean they're on Izzy's computer?"

"I'll explain later. Do you guys have a way to get online?" Sora asked. Matt grumbled, "Not really. The most advanced thing our grandmother has is a VCR and she doesn't even know how to set the time on it. TK and I are out in the country so I doubt anyone here even knows what a computer is. But we'll start going door to door and hope someone has one. We'll call when we find something."

"Okay, talk to you soon Matt," Sora said before hanging up. She sighed and readied to dial the next number on the list - Mimi. Sora hesitated to dial the number at first, thinking about the fact that she was among the many people who'd had to schedule a quick funeral for the ones they'd lost. As much as Sora knew Mimi and Palmon wanted to see each other, she also knew that it would add insult to injury to interrupt the funeral. But would it be worse to rob her of the only chance she might have to see her friend again?

She reminded herself this was for the best with the fate of the internet and possibly the world at stake. It took a few rings before someone picked up - Mimi's somber voice greeted her, "Hello?"

"Hey Mimi," Sora greeted, waiting for her to reply. It was a long period of silence, "Sora? Now's not a good time. We're in the middle of-"

Sora interrupted her, "I know and I'm sorry. But there's a digimon on the loose on the internet and we need your help to stop it. Without you, Palmon can't-"

"Palmon?" Mimi paused, "Palmon is there?"

"Yeah, she is," Sora replied. Mimi's end of the phone was silent for the longest time before she replied, "Okay. I have some time before the ceremony actually starts. What do I have to do?"

"Does your dad have a computer?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, for his job."

"Okay. Get online as soon as you can. Izzy and I are already sending Biyomon and Tentomon in. We'll see you soon," Sora said before hanging up the phone. This left the last digidestined - Kari. She was at her friend's party and she didn't have a phone number which meant she'd have to go get her. Time was a factor so she would have to run there to get the girl.

"Izzy. Will you and Tentomon be alright by yourselves? I have to go get Kari," Sora said. Izzy looked up at her, "Tentomon and I will do what we can by ourselves but hurry back."

"Will do," Sora nodded.

* * *

Kari sat around the table with her friends while they played 'Old Maid'. Somehow, the birthday girl had started losing terribly during their first game and they'd decided to restart. Now luck had turned against her and she was the one who wasn't able to win. As soon as she'd get rid of the card, she'd draw it back again and everyone was somehow able to know which card it was. Unexpectedly, there was a knock at the door and the birthday girl's mother greeted a familiar voice to Kari, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to Kari for a minute."

"Sora? What are you doing here?" Kari put the cards down absentmindedly and didn't hear one of her friends say, "Kari, you left them face up."

"Hey," Sora waved from the door, "Sorry, I didn't want to ruin the party but something came up."

"I can't right now Sora," Kari said, until Sora retorted, "We think it might be about Tai."

"Tai!?" Kari gasped hopefully, mind racing with the possibility that her brother might have come back. Behind her, she could hear the birthday girl asking, "I don't get it. Who's Tai?"

Although her friends were trying to whisper, she could hear them saying,"You don't know? That's the name of her big brother."

"Kari has a big brother? I didn't know that."

"She had a big brother. He died a few years back, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but they never found a body. My dad says that when that happens, they just say they're dead."

"You don't think they found him, do you?"

"Maybe they did. Who knows."

Kari looked at Sora carefully, reading the urgency in the older girl's face. Kari nodded and bowed to her friend apologetically, "I'm sorry, I really have to go. Thanks for inviting me and happy birthday."

"I hope your brother is okay," one of her friends said. Kari noted the birthday girl's annoyed look and offered the most apologetic smile she could while putting on her shoes to join Sora outside. The birthday girl's mother thanked her for coming and Kari apologized one more time for leaving so abruptly.

* * *

Tentomon whizzed through a bright white tunnel, occasionally passing by large windows through which he could see the face of humans all staring in confusion. If it was anything like with Izzy, they were all looking at their computer screens in confusion - wondering what a digimon was doing flying past. At a juncture where his tunnel joined with another he was joined by Palmon, "Hey Tentomon!"

"Palmon!" the little bug breathed a sigh of relief, "I was worried I would have to do this alone."

"Yeah, Mimi just got online. So does this information super highway thing have a bathroom? I have to go," Palmon complained quietly. Tentomon shrugged, "I don't know. I'm more worried about all these people we've been passing by."

Two of the windows they passed started moving along side them - one had Izzy and the other had Mimi. Mimi saw her partner and excitedly screamed, "Palmon!"

"Mimi! It's so good to see you!" Palmon replied excitedly. Mimi returned the emotion, "I missed you so much, Palmon."

"What's with the outfit?" Palmon pointed out her muted black dress, "That's not really your color."

"It's...nothing," Mimi frowned, looking away from the screen sadly. Palmon sensed her hesitation and changed the subject, "So where's Biyomon? I don't see her anywhere."

"She's still here on my laptop," Izzy replied, "Sora went to get Kari and it'd be dangerous to have Biyomon go in without the ability to digivolve. Speaking of which, it looks like the digimon just digivolved to its rookie form."

"So where are we going?" Tentomon asked, "I'm getting motion sickness just flying around like this."

"I've already typed in the address. Just use my password to get online - 'Prodigious!'" Izzy explained.

"Prodigious!" the two digimon said together, watching a gate on the side of the tunnel open up to reveal large white void full of floating cheeseburgers, chocolate bars, magazines, books, and other oddities. Palmon commented, "Huh. I don't know where we are but it needs new wallpaper."

"It's the website for a convenience store. We have hundreds of them in our city. It looks like it's just eating data but I don't think it should be causing any serious problems yet," Izzy told them, unaware that a poor customer a few blocks away was being charged several million yen for a bar of chocolate. In the void were long strings of 1s and 0s zipping past at high speed which Tentomon pointed out. At the end of one was a tentacled digimon with long wiry arms, slurping up the string of data quickly and enjoying every bite it took of the data. Tentomon pointed it out, "There he is! I don't think he's noticed us yet."

"Good, let's sneak around and get him from both sides," Palmon said. The two digimon split up, using the floating food as cover to help them approach the little squid digimon. Once they were in attacking distance, Tentomon opened up with a blast of electricity, "Super Shocker!"

The little squid digimon writhed as the current ran through its body and destroyed the numeric string it was eating. While they were unaware of the consequences at the time, a convenience store's prices increased three digits. With it shocked, Palmon used her vines to restrain the digimon and pin it to the ground, "Got you! You're in a lot of trouble mister."

It took the rogue rookie level digimon a moment to compose itself, and it asked only one question once it recovered from the surprise shock, "Are we playing a game? Let's play!"

Mimi shuddered, "Okay, why does he sound like Puppetmon but like a thousand times creepier?"

Izzy was at a loss for an explanation when suddenly, the little rookie digimon's wiry hands wrapped around Palmon so that he could throw her into a nearby floating bag of potato chips that exploded on impact. Tentomon hurried to attack with blasts of electricity, but the rookie digimon managed to maneuver around all the electricity with ease. Palmon recovered from being thrown but complained, "Okay, now he's in trouble."

"He's a lot tougher than he looks! I think it's time to digivolve!" Izzy suggested to them, holding up his digivice. Their two partner digimon nodded in agreement and were overtaken by a bright light. Unbeknownst to the two digimon, thousands of people across the Real World marveled at their computer screens while watching the two rookies digivolve to the Champion level.

"Tentomon! Digivolve to! Kabuterimon!"

"Palmon! Digivolve to! Togemon!"

The two champion level digimon pursued the tentacled rookie digimon through the white space, oblivious to the hundreds of people watching them. The rookie turned to face them and fired two blasts of fire from his mouth, "Bug Blaster!"

Togemon kicked herself off a passing chocolate bar and used it to slam her fist into the rookie, only to miss and strike the ground behind it. The little rookie's giggle echoed hauntingly through the room and left him wide open to a jolt of electricity from Kabuterimon, "ElectroShocker!"

The current's path arced behind the rookie who began moving more erratically to avoid the electricity but was still too slow to avoid the strike. They could feel the blast from that distance and the digidestined appeared in windows behind their partners. Mimi asked, "Did we get him?"

Izzy looked very carefully, "I don't know. But a good chunk of my screen is just empty space now. Whatever you did messed up the website. Hang on a second, something is moving."

As the smoke cleared, they could make out the outline of an insect like monster with spikes on its body. They could see a smooth white piece of armor covering the body, head, and paws while the exposed bits revealed long slender tentacles that arched rather than bend at joints.

Through the eye slits, they could see big blue eyes staring at them coldly and analytically, as if it were a predator deciding whether or not now would be a good time to strike. Kabuterimon announced, "It digivol-"

Before he could finish, it whipped itself towards the bug digimon and slammed him against the far wall before leaping away and cackling playfully. Togemon spun around to keep the digimon in sight, "This guy's fast. What is he?"

"Hang on, I'm checking the database that...oh crap. GUYS! He's an Ultimate now!" Izzy shouted at the screen, "He digivolved straight past his champion form to Infermon. You need to digivolve fast!"

"Yeah, let me get right on that," Kabuterimon pushed himself off the wall and readied to digivolve, "Kabuterimon! Digivolve to!"

"Togemon! Digivolve to!"

"Spider Shooter!" Infermon leapt off the wall again and tucked in all his exposed limbs so that he resembled a bullet flying through the air. He opened his mouth and fired a flurry of shots that struck both digimon in the middle of their digivolution process. It laughed its horrible giggle and said, "They're watching. Hope you don't mind."

"What is he talking about?" Izzy asked before pausing, "Oh...that's not good. He just posted my email online and...wow that was fast. The emails are just pouring in. I didn't know my inbox could ever get that full."

Izzy looked back at their digimon to see Tentomon and Palmon caught in a daze. He asked, "Tentomon, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just one question, who's Tentomon?" the little bug asked. Palmon looked over at him, "I think I'm Tentomon. I'm fine by the way."

"Palmon, you're okay right?" Mimi asked her partner specifically, only to see the little plant look at Tentomon, "Are you going to answer her?"

"She asked you," Tentomon replied.

"Yeah, but she said Palmon. I'm Tentomon," Palmon replied, rubbing her head, "Wow, that digimon sure hits hard."

Mimi gasped at the thought that her friend would have forgotten her but relaxed when Izzy added, "I think they'll be okay after a minute's rest. Getting hit in the middle of digivolving probably threw them off."

Mimi nodded nervously and looked back at the Ultimate digimon giggling excitedly. While she watched, she witnessed a little red dot moving across its body until its stopped in the center of its forehead. In a blink the digimon moved just as the space it had been standing on blew apart. The digimon laughed playfully, fleeing from the red dot that pursued it. Palmon looked around in confusion, "Okay. What's happening?"

"Who cares? Look out!" Tentomon replied, grabbing the plant digimon and flying away from the explosions. They ducked behind a bar of chocolate, watching three figures in hooded white robes and black armor hurry past - two tall figures and one short one. Accompanying them were three digimon - an Agumon, a Palmon, and a Gabumon. The tallest of the robed figures shouted, "Go! Keep it moving. Palmon, Gabumon, Agumon, box it in. Tamer go left. Keeper go right. I'll hang back! Let's take this thing out before-"

Before he finished, Infermon slammed into the hooded figure from above - crushing it to data with a mischievous laugh. The shortest of the robed figures ran towards their fallen comrades, "Legatus!"

Infermon turned to face the short one and readied to attack. The short figure froze until Agumon dove in and pushed it aside in time to avoid getting blown apart, "Tamer! Look out!"

"Stay in formation!" the Palmon said, whipping out her vines in an attempt to restrain the digimon, "Poison Ivy!"

She took hold of Infermon and smiled, "Got you! Keeper! Finish it of-whoa!"

Infermon spun itself in place and managed to throw the Palmon into Gabumon who hurried in to assist. From a distance, the other hooded figure readied a digivice and held it as if preparing to attack. Infermon noted this and moved out of the way of the light from her digivice. The other Palmon was dragged along by Infermon, straight into the beam of light where she screamed in agony before turning to data. The Gabumon panicked, "Keeper, relocate now! Agumon, let's circle around and try to get it back into a corner!"

"Okay, Tamer, will you be alright?" Agumon asked the boy under his arm. The little hooded figure stood up and produced a digivice, "Yeah. I'll be fine. Come on, we still have a mission to do."

"Tamer, if you've got any ideas then I'm open to suggestions," Keeper called out, repositioning herself to keep Infermon in sight. Palmon and Tentomon peered out of the corner while a window of Izzy appeared beside them, "Did you hear that? It's Tamer! And Agumon!"

"I knew it!" Mimi declared, "Tamer does have something to do with this."

"Who are the others with them though?" Tentomon asked, watching Tamer narrowly avoid getting blown apart by Infermon. He ran behind a floating magazine and shouted, "I have one idea. You guys won't like it though."

"Do it!" Keeper replied. Tamer ran away from their group while Agumon and Gabumon tried to keep Infermon's attention, pelting the digimon with small blasts of fire to harass it. Unfortunately Infermon ignored them and went straight for Tamer, who'd positioned himself behind a large bar of chocolate. Infermon punched right through it and landed some distance away, confused about Tamer absence until it was blinded by a bright light, "Surprise!"

It staggered momentarily and Keeper saw a chance to fire another blast of light at it. It took the hit and bounced away straight, stopped my short of the Gabumon's feet. Infermon's first action was to grab the Gabumon and throw him at Tamer, knocking them both away. Keeper fired two more shots of light at Infermon as it fled down a hole back into the wires of the internet. Tamer rolled out from under Gabumon, "Okay. That didn't go at all how I thought it would."

"Does anything ever go the way you guys plan it?" Gabumon moaned, rubbing his head. Agumon thought for a moment and replied, "It did the time we got Gennai to put on robes covered in ketchu-"

"Enough chatter," Keeper snapped at them, "Report."

"I'm good," Agumon said.

"A little dizzy but I'm still good," Gabumon replied.

"Only my pride is hurt," Tamer replied. Keeper glanced around the white room at the damage they'd done and the various windows of people who witnessed the fight. Mimi and Izzy both reeled away from their monitors as it seemed she looked directly at them, "We've made too much of a scene. We'll fall back for now and continue after the target."

"Copy," the rest of the group said in unison. There was a flash of light from her digivice and they vanished, leaving nothing behind. Tentomon blinked, "Looks like Gatomon's right! This has them written all over it."

"It would explain how you guys got in my computer," Izzy mumbled never mind that, "Go after Infermon. He's gone to a...telephone company website. Oh that's not good."

As he finished, both his screen and Mimi's disappeared, leaving the digimon wondering. Palmon asked, "Where do you think they went?"

"Probably to do whatever humans boys and human girls do," Tentomon replied, earning him a slap.

* * *

Sora and Kari were out of breath as they ran back into her apartment. Sora's mom was holding a tray with glasses of oolong tea in her hands and remarked, "Welcome back Sora. Here, have some tea."

"Thanks Mom," she said grabbing a glass for herself and Kari. The two went straight to her father's office where Izzy was busy messing with cables and a cordless phone, connecting them in a fray of cables that didn't seem sensible. Sora asked, "What happened? What did we miss?"

"Where do I start?" Izzy said, busily messing with the different computers and turning them on, "First, that digimon is now an ultimate level and he wiped the floor with Palmon and Tentomon. Second, he put my email address online which is slowing down our internet connection with all the emails I'm getting. I tried using a spam filter but that didn't work. And then he brought the internet down by attacking the phone company. Oh, and Tamer showed up and-"

"Tai's there? Is he okay?" Kari chimed in with questions, "When did he get back? Is Agumon with him?"

"Yes, maybe, no idea and yes," Izzy replied to each question quickly while typing random numbers and letters into his computer, "I'm trying to use a satellite phone to help us reconnect to the internet but it'll take me a minute. Hi by the way. How've you been?"

"I was at a birthday party when Sora came to get me," Kari asked excitedly. Izzy continued, "I hope you at least had some cake before you came down."

"No," Kari said glumly. Izzy's eyebrows popped and he quickly rotated his laptop towards her, "Anyway, why not catch up with Gatomon?"

"KARI!" she heard her feline companion say from the screen of Izzy's laptop. The little kitty was jumping up and down excitedly while waving her gloved hands. Kari blinked in disbelief, overjoyed to see her partner again, "Gatomon!"

"It's good to see you! I know it was only a week but I really missed you! It felt like an eternity," the cat said excitedly, "What was that about a party? There was milk right? I mean for the cake."

"Sorry Gatomon. I don't think Izzy would like it if I put milk in his laptop," Kari smiled.

"No, I really wouldn't. And we are online!" Izzy said with a flew more clicks on the keyboard. The screen connected to the homepage of a search engine that Izzy started using to search for the bug. He visited all kinds of websites, scanning the screen briefly while commenting, "It looks like major news outlets aren't reporting it yet, but image boards and social sites are going nuts. It's still in the website of the phone company which gives us a chance to catch it off guard."

Before he finished, they all heard the phone ring. Sora's mom answered and gasped when she heard whatever was on the other side, dropping it to the floor. Sora dashed back out into the entry hall, "Mom, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, but I'm hanging up," she explained while picking up the phone, spooked by whatever was on the other end.

"Hang on a second," Sora snatched it away and put it to her ear. The sound of mocking laughter filled her ear and terror struck her at the realization it was the rogue digimon on the internet. She shivered and placed the phone back on the receiver, "That digimon is mocking us."

"Digimon? Sora, what's going on?" her mother looked upon her anxiously, obviously scared not just for her daughter but also for everyone else after what happened just a week ago. Sora knew it was better not to keep secrets and pulled her mother into her father's study. Her mom gasped at the site of the computer screen displaying their digimon as they moved around the internet while Izzy's laptop showed the remaining digimon on their way to join them. Kari had moved to the screen and was watching her partner intently while they spoke.

Sora began, "There's a digimon on the internet and were trying to stop it before it causes any more harm. Where is it now, Izzy?"

"If I'm following it right, it's using the phone lines to move from one phone company to another. I'm tracing its last IP address to a place in France. No, it jumped again to the U.K. Dang, this digimon moves quick," Izzy answered just as his laptop beeped, "Perfect! It looks like Matt and TK are connecting. It's time to upload Gabumon and Patamon."

* * *

Palmon and Tentomon continued soaring through the internet after the rogue digimon, ignoring the thousands of windows they passed with the faces of humans watching them. They were joined at another intersection by five more: Biyomon, Gatomon, Patamon, Gabumon and Gomamon. Palmon waved excitedly, "Hey! You guys made it!"

"Is TK on this ride?" Patamon asked curiously. Gatomon replied, "No. he and Kari aren't tall enough. They should definitely try again in a few years."

"Sora's finally back and she brought Kari with her so this time you guys don't have to go alone!" Biyomon said enthusiastically. Gabumon added, "Matt and TK are online too. Whatever that means."

He looked at a passing window where they could see the faces of Matt and TK. They noted the people behind them and Gabumon asked, "Hey Matt. Who are those people?"

"They're some really good friends of ours," Matt replied excitedly, muttering under his breath, "Since the only computer in town is literally in the barbershop. It looks like everyone's here though."

"Not everyone. Joe's not here but I'm not letting you guys have all the fun!" Gomamon replied with glee, smiling a big toothy grin.

"Speaking of missing, guess who turned up?" Tentomon asked rhetorically. Gatomon nodded, "We heard. I told you so."

"Focus guys," Izzy said, trying to bring their attention back to the matter at hand, "I've tracked that digimon all the way to America. It looks like he's gone to a stock exchange."

"What's a stock exchange? You mean like stockings? It's kind of early for Christmas," Tentomon reasoned. Izzy groaned, "Don't worry. Just digivolve as soon as you get there and be ready for a fight. He's a lot smarter and tougher than he looks."

"Yeah, he wiped the floor with our butts. And some other guys," Palmon said as they continued out the tunnel and into another large white room. Strings of ones and zeroes moved around the room in random numbers, as did clouds of other numbers. The digimon blinked while Izzy explained, "This is the New York Stock Exchange. If it damages any data here, it could bankrupt some of the world's wealthiest companies and plunge us into a global recession."

"There's the moon man talk again," Gomamon commented, "Man, I missed that. Okay guys! Let's digivolve!"

Despite the distance from each other, the digidestined were able to power their digivolutions from their rookie forms to their champion forms and finally into the ultimate forms. All of the digimon scattered around in search of the rogue digimon as they entered another vast white chamber. Instead of food, they found long strings of numbers that turned green when they increased and red when they decreased.

It didn't take long to find it eating one of the strings of numbers, reducing it to zeroes. The digimon quietly moved into position to surround the digimon and prepare to take it off guard. When they were each in position, Angewomon opened the attack with a shot of light from her arrow, "Celestial Arrow!"

The digimon didn't have time to react when it was pierced from above by the blast of light. It staggered briefly, struggling to move from its injury but still able to twitch grotesquely and turn its head enough to see the digidestined's partner coming towards it. MegaKabuterimon slammed his horn into it and managed to clip its leg before it wriggled out the way, knocking it off balance so that it crashed into a roll. Garudamon and WereGarurumon moved in with Lillymon next to cut it off, pursuing it as it attempted to flee despite its injury, "Spider Shooter!"

With it off balance, the digimon partners were able to outmaneuver its attacks but had to watch as strings of numbers were destroyed in its place. Izzy chastised them, "Guys! Be careful! There's a lot of sensitive data here."

Mimi scolded the boy, "Who cares about that? Guys, keep yourselves safe!"

They pursued the angry digimon as it moved hastily around the room, trying to predict its movements and trap it before it could get away. Garudamon commented, "This thing moves faster than Piedmon and hits harder too. We can't keep up!"

"This is no good," WereGarurumon growled, "I think it's time for me to go Mega Matt."

"Yeah! Go for it!" Matt held up his digivice. Blue light shot forward and struck WereGarurumon as he howled, "WereGarurumon! Digivolve to!"

Before he finished, Infermon slammed into him from the side and pinned him against the white wall. It giggled playfully as WereGarurumon's digivolution regressed him back to an unconscious Gabumon. Matt panicked, "WereGarurumon! NO!"

"Our digimon are vulnerable during digivolution," Izzy commented, "It knows that! You have to help him, MegaKabuterimon!"

"You too MagnaAngemon!" TK cheered his partner on. Their digimon moved ahead to rescue their friend while Infermon was distracted, but it quickly noticed them with a laugh. It extended two more of its limbs from its body and used them to pin the two digimon against more numbers. MegaKabuterimon was large enough to be harder to hold while MagnaAngemon used his sword to cut himself free, injuring the digimon further. Its laughter died as it recoiled from losing a leg and threw Gabumon at the attacking angel. MagnaAngemon caught the unconscious rookie in both arms and failed to notice Infermon flying towards him. By the time he did, Infermon tackled and pinned them against the back wall. It stared at the angel digimon's face and warned, "Don't interfere. I must complete the mission. My master's will be done."

"Master? What master?" MagnaAngemon managed to ask before Infermon slammed him repeatedly into the wall until his strength faded and he regressed to Patamon. TK went into a panic and called out for his partner, "Patamon! Patamon! Are you okay!? Speak to me! Patamon! Don't worry! I'm coming."

Watching the scene unfold, Kari commented, "TK. You can't. But Angewomon can!"

"You too Lillymon!" Mimi declared.

The pixie and the angel circled around to attack Infermon from both sides, hoping to catch him off guard with a two pronged attack. They each fired one shot that Infermon leapt away from, cackling mischievously as both Patamon and Gabumon fell to the ground. Angewomon and Lillymon caught the falling rookies in hand before they fell, leaving Garudamon to pursue Infermon. Gomamon perched on her shoulder and called out Infermon's location as it moved around the room - crashing through strings of ones and zeroes, and occasionally through long strings of numbers.

Angewomon and Lillymon fell back with Gabumon and Patamon in hand to keep out of their way. Garudamon did her best to keep up but it was obvious that Infermon held the advantage in terms of speed despite his crippling injury. MegaKabuterimon joined and tried to block the ultimate at every turn - only to always slam into another string of numbers. Angewomon looked down at Patamon in her arms bitterly, before clicking her tongue and handing the rookie to Lillymon, "Protect him, okay?"

"Got it. You be safe too," Lillymon took the rookie in her hand. Angewomon raced to join Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon in their pursuit. As it dragged on, they realized the pursuit was useless and Angewomon opted to use her bow. It was hard to line up the shot with the digimon's flailing movements but she tried to anticipate its movement. After careful observation, she learned its patterns and readied to fire away at where she thought it would go next. With its next leap, she fired at where she it would go and managed to miss when Infermon leapt out of the way. She clicked her tongue, "No way. It's too fast."

* * *

Kari watched the screen in disbelief as they struggled to keep up with the digimon. Her heart sank as she moaned, "They can't fight it! They can't even keep up! He's too fast."

"We can beat him Kari," Sora put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't give up yet. We just have to have faith in our digimon."

"It's...it's the emails!" Izzy said from the side, looking between the screens, "The emails are flooding my computer and slowing down the internet connection. It's also slowing them down! I can't get rid of them fast enough."

"What if you disconnect your email account?" Kari suggested hopefully, unable to watch Angewomon and the others struggle any longer. Izzy shook his head, "We'd lose the internet connection. I'm doing what I can with the emails but we're on the defensive here."

"We're trying to save the world and you're answering fan mail!" Sora shouted in frustration until they saw the screen flash white. All three of them focused their attention on the monitor to see the digimon Infermon had digivolved. A new window appeared with a single message - 'Infermon! Digivolve to! Diaboromon!'

"Well, that's not good," Sora commented upon seeing a more humanoid digimon wearing dark blue armor with spikes on the shoulders and the back. It's helmet led to a pointed top with horns on either side, with long blonde hair flowing from the back. Its hands fed out into long red talons that dug into the website as it moved around. Mimi commented, "I never thought I'd see a digimon that was more creepy than Piedmon but I was wrong."

It leapt up into the air and extended both arms out - pinning both Angewomon and Garudamon on opposite sides of the website. Kari felt panic wash over her as their digimon regressed to their rookie forms from their injuries - leaving only Gomamon to try and pry Biyomon free, "Let go! Let her go! You big jerk!"

Lillymon wanted to help but had to keep her distance while Gabumon and Patamon were unconscious. This meant MegaKabuterimon would have to try and be charged straight for the Mega level digimon with his horn - only to be punched back when a third limb extended out to crush MegaKabuterimon, turning him back to Tentomon. Leaving the others to fend for themselves didn't sit well with Lillymon as she watched the Mega continue laughing hysterically. Then something else moved across the screen, so quickly that everyone watching had to blink to make sure they saw it right.

Diaboromon's mobility was limited with his arms and leg pinning Salamon, Tentomon, and Biyomon. As a result, there was nothing he could do against a pair of Garurumon and Greymon from slamming into each arm and dragging down to the bottom of the website. Diaboromon looked back and forth at the two champion level digimon in confusion, a sentiment shared with Matt who stumbled at Garurumon's presence, "What the? Garurumon!? But how?"

His answer came when two figures in white hooded robes reentered the field with digivices. The shorter of the two ran ahead and slid to a stop in front of Diaboromon. He held his digivice into its eyes and shouted, "Hi! Say cheese!"

It screeched in pain when the light blinded it and it thrashed violently enough to kick off Greymon and Garurumon. The other hooded figure appeared above the mega and shouted, "You over did it again!"

"It wouldn't be problem if you'd kill it already!" The short one shouted back, "Hurry up! Before it gets the ability to see again!"

"Web Wrecker!" it howled, its chest armor opened to reveal a canon that fired bolts of light aimlessly. The taller hooded figure fired light from her digivice but it did nothing against the Mega level digimon and she perished with so little as a whimper. The injured Garurumon managed to sit up in time to see her death and growled in anger, "NO! Howling Blaster!"

The sound alerted Diaboromon to the direction he needed to face - to fight Garurumon. The hail of blue fire met the flurry of bolts in the air, resulting in an explosion that knocked the small hooded figure down and lifted his cloak off his face to reveal fiery brown hair and a face concealed by goggles - Tai Kamiya. Kari covered her mouth in a gasp upon seeing her older brother, watching as the shock wave of another blast rolled him into WarGreymon, "I gotcha!"

Still in pain and slightly disoriented, Diaboromon leapt away into a nearby tunnel to escape. Greymon watched angrily, "It got away, Tamer. We lost Keeper and Garurumon too."

"I know. We'll just have to try again. We keep on trying until we beat it," Tamer replied, raising the goggles over his head, "Let's go after it. We need to stop it before things get-"

"Aaaaah!" Lillymon howled as she tackled Tamer to the ground to keep them from leaving, "You're not going anywhere! You're staying right here and telling us how you-"

"Get off!" Greymon roared, using his tail to whip the Ultimate digimon off his partner. Tamer scrambled to his feet and gasped, "Lillymon? No, that's not right. You're not Palmon, Palmon was killed. Who are you? And what are...oh."

He looked up and seemed to notice the screens through which the other digidestined were looking at him. For a moment, Kari felt like he looked right at her and she gasped, "Tai! You're okay! When did you come back? What's going on here? What does that digimon want on the internet?"

Tamer blinked a few times before pointing at himself and asking, "Who me? Who's Tai? I think you're confused. Sorry for the confusion. Come on Greymon!"

"Oh no you don't Tamer! Tell us what's going on right now!" Matt barked at him, pointing out Gabumon and his injuries, "Gabumon and the others were seriously hurt because of that thing so you better start talking!"

"Do you always yell when you say hi to people? It's kind of rude you know," Tamer lectured, "I'm sorry about Gabumon but I'm afraid that has nothing to do with me. Although I am curious about how you got these digimon but I don't have time to deal with that. We have a rogue digimon to destroy."

"What's with that answer?" Mimi asked with a grumble. Kari looked at her older brother pleadingly and asked, "Tai! You said you wouldn't keep any more secrets."

"Did he? Well you better make sure to tell him that the next time you see him," Tamer remarked at his sister, bringing tears to her eyes. Kari asked, "You know who I am right?"

"Should I?"

"I think I get it," Izzy said as realization dawned on him and he asked, "Tamer! How old are you?"

"That's kind of personal, isn't it?" Tamer looked almost offended. Greymon nudged his partner, "Tamer, we don't have time for this."

"I know, I know. We should-" he paused, raising a hand in the air to signal for quiet and put the other hand to his ear. He nodded silently a few times, ignoring the question so Izzy asked again, "Tamer, how old are-"

"Shh!" he stopped Izzy short and continued standing there, "Copy command. Casualties at four dead, two wounded. Target escaped. Continuing pursuit."

His eyes narrowed and he looked up at the screen. Kari was unnerved by the uneasy look in his eye as he replied, "Command, they're kids and time is a factor."

He paused again before pulling something out of his ear and stepping on it, "Dumb conversation anyway. Right then, you guys - you have digimon which is odd but Greymon and I need a hand. I won't question where you got them since it looks like fate brought us together for a reason. There's a digimon-"

"Threatening our world and about to destroy the internet, we know," Mimi interrupted, "We're here to help so get on with it. Answer the question!"

"She's a ball of sunshine, isn't she? At least she's open and honest," Greymon commented, annoying the girl even further. Tamer sighed, "If you guys really want to know, I'm about four hundred and thirty five. Greymon here is four hundred and twenty seven. What does that have to do with anything?"

"That explains it. Kari, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but that Tamer standing there hasn't met us yet," Izzy said, confusing the little girl even more. Izzy went on, "He's still Tamer and that's still Greymon. This is just them from the past. The Tamer we know was over a hundred thousand years old. That Tamer is only a couple of hundred; he literally has no idea who we are."

"I think he's supposed to be the smart one in the group," Greymon whispered at Tamer, who began to question what this meant about the others. Tamer responded, "Talking nonsense doesn't make someone smart. It makes them crazy."

"You can talk," Greymon snickered.

Kari turned to the screen and stared at her brother in disbelief. She didn't want to believe it and asked, "So then Myotismon? The Dark Masters? The crest of light and warp digivolving? You don't remember any of that?"

"You're using a lot of words you shouldn't know in a context that makes no sense," he replied unapologetically, folding his arms impatiently, "Hey Greymon, do you think she's smart too?"

Kari was at a loss for words at the back handed compliment and tried to think of something to say only to have no words. Sora sensed this and tried to bring the conversation back to the rogue digimon, "We can stop it, right?"

"Probably. Our chances are definitely good as long as we beat it before…never mind," Tamer replied, "We can beat it."

The uncertainty in his voice made them nervous. He was always bad when it came to telling them the truth, but he' never been this obvious about it. That was made truth when a new window appeared with a single message - 'Decision is made. Coordinates locked. Impact in ten minutes.'

"What does that mean?" Sora's mother gasped, while Tamer cursed under his breath. Kari looked at her brother expectantly to ask, "Tai...Tamer, what's going on?"

"We were trying to stop that from happening but it just did," Tamer answered nonchalantly, readjusting his goggles over his eyes, "If we're going to stop it, we'll need to go now."

"What's going on? Can someone explain?" Lillymon asked anxiously. Tamer sighed, "Look, my team was trying to stop that rogue digimon from launching what you people call a nuclear warhead. I'm a little short on details but, if I remember right, it has an effective range of 20,000 kilometers and a payload of 1 megaton. If I had to guess, that counter means that in 10 minutes, some part of the world won't be there any more."

Sora's mom and Izzy's jaw fell open in disbelief. It was a lot to take in and even more to digest as they tried processing it. Kari and TK both looked to the older children with them, wanting to know what a nuclear warhead was and why Izzy and Sora's mom were so worried. Sora's mother explained what it was and Kari had to gasp in disbelief that a weapon so powerful could be going anywhere in the world. She did not want to believe any of this was possible, a new window appeared on Izzy's screen with the message - 'Who is the real one?'

Kari felt the lump in her throat as the threat was confirmed, watching Izzy's screen intently as the rogue digimon on the screen split into two, then four, and eight. Izzy blinked in disbelief, "No way! It's multiplying! How is it doing that?"

"It's a smart weapon," Tamer said, "I can explain on the way. First, let me take care of your digimon."

Kari, Sora, and Izzy noted as he went to each of their digimon and made a show of doing something with his back to them so that it was hard to see what he was doing. One by one, their unconscious digimon jolted awake and refreshed - without injury or any sign of the battle they'd just been through. He stopped and looked closely at Gabumon when his turn came up, surprised to see the rookie digimon laying there. He mumbled, "Destiny indeed."

"Hey, what are you doing to our digimon?" Matt asked into his computer. Greymon assured him, "Helping make sure they can fight."

Once Gabumon sat up, he asked, "What happened!? Did we win!? Where is...GREYMON!? What are you doing here?"

"Keeping you alive," Greymon replied while Matt added, "They don't know who we are yet. They're younger than the Tamer we-"

Tamer interrupted, "Okay, can we stop with that? If you guys are from our personal future then I'd prefer it if you guys kept it a less obvious secret. And don't tell me anything more about the future. We have to keep destiny on track."

"Hey, don't talk to them like that Tamer," Sora spat back, "It's not like we've done any of this before."

"But you have met us, which would explain this annoying headache I'm having," Tamer interrupted, massaging his temple, "We're wasting time. You, smart one. How much time do we have?"

"Seven minutes, and we're at the thirty fifth set of multiplication. We need to hurry!" Izzy said, "I'm trying to trace where Diaboromon went but I keep running into firewalls and encryptions."

"Don't worry. We already know where it went," Tamer tapped the side of his head, "Follow us."

Greymon lowered his hand for Tamer to climb on and the two flew into the air, down into the tunnel that Diaboromon fled into. The digimon looked at each other then to their partners. Lillymon asked, "Should we go after them?"

"We don't have much choice. That nuke could be going anywhere in the world. Beating that digimon is the only chance we have of disarming it and we'll need all the help we can get," Izzy said, "Especially since it's multiplied. After 35 multiplications, it'd be over 17 billion Diaboromon now."

"Well I guess that settles it then," Gomamon sighed, "Let's go!"

* * *

Together, the seven digimon traveled with Tamer and Greymon through the internet unaware that they were being watched online by everyone with an internet connection. While they flew along, Kari watched the timer count down closer and closer to its impending impact time. She swallowed a lump in her throat fearfully while her brother continued his explanation, "Like I said, it's a smart weapon. It's a digimon like yours only it's artificial in nature. It doesn't have a moral sense of right and wrong like we do, all it has is its mission and a desire to complete it."

"So what is its mission?" Sora's mother asked, "I mean obviously, it's trying to destroy us but why?"

"It's mission is to learn as much about your world as it can, then decide whether to destroy it or to recruit it. Obviously, it chose to destroy your world and I bet it had to do with you guys fighting it," Greymon answered, not hearing Izzy mumble, "Yeah. That. And not anything it found on the internet."

Greymon went on, "We've killed a bunch of them before. They're not so bad if you can get to them when they're young but they become a problem when they get this old."

"Or this many. I still don't get how any of us are going to stand a chance against that many of them," Tentomon mumbled as they flew along. Greymon answered, "Quality over quantity. They're strong, so we'll just have to be better. There's nine of us but we'll make it feel like there's more. Make yourselves feel like a hundred!"

"If its numbers we need, I have all these emails," Izzy joked. Tamer looked up at him, "Emails huh? How many?"

"Enough that it's slowing down my computer and our internet connection," Izzy responded. Tamer nodded and pressed a few buttons on his digivice, "Do me a favor, will you? I'm sending something your way, do you mind opening it?"

"Yeah, but what?" Izzy asked, just as another email popped up on his screen. Izzy looked at the address of the sender and asked, "Wait, this email-"

"Open it," Tamer said again. Izzy clicked it and watched the screen blinked a rainbow of colors before returning to normal, as if nothing happened. Nothing seemed out of place so the digidestined were left confused about what they'f done. All the while, Gatomon dreadingly commented, "Nine of us against 17 billion at Izzy's last count. We're in trouble."

Tamer looked over his shoulder and gave a thumbs up, "Sounds like a fun time."

"You're nuts, you know that right?" Matt added into his computer screen. Tamer shrugged off the remark, "I've heard worse. We're coming up on the exit point."

As he spoke, they flew past several damaged walls and gates with holes blown through them, "It looks like security here wasn't enough to keep him out."

"I've never seen a firewall or encryption like that," Izzy observed, slowly putting everything together in his head, "He fired a nuclear warhead. Oh no, he can't have."

"Izzy, what is it?" Sora asked worriedly.

"He's in an American military computer. I don't know which one, it could be a typical computer, it could be a super computer. Whatever he's in, it needed that kind of security which is probably how he got the nuke in the first place. If he can do that, what can he do against us?" Izzy said, to the worry of Kari, Sora, and her other. That concern turned to surprise when a new window appeared with Joe's face on it. He spoke at just above a whisper, "Hey guys. I'm sorry I'm late but I'm here now."

"There he is. Good old reliable Joe," Gomamon said cheerfully on seeing his partner, "It's good to finally see your face again pal."

"Same to you Gomamon," Joe said with a half apologetic smile.

"It's about time you got here. Where were you?" Matt frowned, frustrated at their turn of luck. Joe's smile turned to a frown, "Sorry, I was in the middle of my entrance exam when the computers did something weird. For a second it looked like a digimon ran past my screen. Anyway, they kicked everyone out but I snuck back into one of the empty computer labs. I figured something was going on."

"Well, better late than never," Gomamon replied with a cheer. Still worried,TK asked, "I don't know. Will it make a difference Matt? I mean, we hurt him but he was still able to beat us. Even MagnaAngemon didn't stand a chance - can we even beat someone so strong?"

"I don't know TK, but they'll do their best. Isn't that right, Gabumon," Matt stated more than asked of his partner. Gabumon nodded, "You bet."

"Of course they can," Mimi declared, "We're going to kick his butt and send him back where he came from."

"It'll be tough, but it looks like we've got an audience of people cheering us on," Izzy stated as he glanced over at the emails pouring in even faster to his computer. Sora sighed, "Yeah, no pressure."

"Don't get so down. The frown doesn't suit you," Tamer stated matter of factly, taking Sora off guard as he added, "Smile. It looks prettier. And ditch the hat too. You shouldn't hide your hair beneath a hat."

"Are you seriously flirting right now?" Mimi accused angrily. Greymon snickered, "He's only doing it because she looks like-"

His mouth shut when Tamer jabbed in the gut with a sharp kick, "That's enough out of you. Target's fifty meters ahead. Engage on sight. Everyone, digivolve up!"

The digimon digivolved as far as they could before he even finished his sentence. MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Lillymon, MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, and Zudomon went into the darkened room ahead - ready to battle the dangerous digimon. On arrival, fear gripped them as they saw countless numbers of Diaboromon lying in wait and cackling away. The sheer number left them frozen in terror. Kari gasped, "How many are there now?"

"I have no idea," Izzy mumbled, "I stopped keeping track after the fiftieth set of multiplication."

"Don't give up yet guys," Tamer assured them, "We can still win."

"How?" Garudamon said sarcastically. Greymon replied, "We just have to find the original, the one holding the keys to the nuclear warhead. Take that one out and the rest will die."

"Yeah, we'll just destroy trillions and trillions until we get it right," Garudamon roared, "How were we planning on winning again?"

"Hope," he stated quietly, "It's a surprisingly strong emotion and a good weapon."

"He's right," MagnaAngemon nodded in agreement, to the dismay of everyone else present. Zudomon rolled his eyes and sighed, "Okay, but is there anything practical we can do?"

"Well, now would be a really good time to dodge," Greymon nodded, pointing out that every single Diaboromon stopped to face them. The armor on their chest parted so their cannons could fire. The light descended upon them like hail and Matt shouted, "SCATTER!"

The digimon spread out in different directions as the attacks rained in from all around them. Lillymon, Angewomon, and MagnaAngemon had the easiest time because of their small size and fought back at every chance they had. Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon weren't and were struck by the blasts as quickly as they came in. Their partners screamed out for them as they were blanketed by attacks, hoping that they would be able to move out of the way of the attacks. MetalGarurumon launched a barrage of missiles in the hopes that they would do something but found too late that explosions barely put a dent in the number of digimon that were present.

"It's no good," MetalGarurumon said, trying to keep moving to avoid the attacks, there's just too many of them. A light in the dark, MagnaAngemon cut the air with his blade and shouted, "Don't lose heart. We can still win! Gate of Destiny!"

The golden gate parted, revealing a blinding white light and a howling wind that swallowed the attacks in mass. But the attacks were many and some struck the sides of the gate, cracking its frame and forcing the gate to break apart until it crumbled to dust. The winds died and the light vanished while MagnaAngemon's voice shook, "How did that happen?"

"Don't know, it shouldn't have been possible," Tamer shouted, "Greymon! Go for Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon. They're sitting ducks under all this fire."

"Angewomon! Help them!" Kari shouted at the screen, seeing her partner caught up in dodging the hell fire. The remaining digimon who were still able to move gathered the others together around Tamer, moving in sync to avoid making themselves a larger target but also staying close enough. Greymon breathed fire on to the Diaboromon while shouting, "Whatever you're planning, do it fast!"

Without a word, Tamer held up his digivice and just as they were blanketed in a hail of fire from the Diaboromon. The digidestined collectively panicked as they watched the cloud of smoke destroy the area their partners were in. Mimi panicked and shouted for her partner, "Lillymon! Lillymon! Are you okay?"

"Angewomon! Tai!" Kari slammed the monitor so hard that the entire screen went blue with an indiscernible scribble of numbers and letters. She was dumbfounded by the computer's sudden behavior, "What's happening? Izzy, what's wrong with the computer?"

"Kari! No, no no, no!" Izzy shouted, typing away at the keyboard and pushing buttons on the computer in futility. When nothing happened, he pushed the power button on everything, "I have to reboot the computer. It'll take me a minute just to reconnect through the sat-phone."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know," Kari pulled her hands in close in panic, faulting herself for making such a stupid mistake at such a critical time. Sora patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "Hey. Don't worry. We'll get back online soon. Just calm down."

"We don't have time!" Kari panicked, "That bomb is going to go off soon and we're losing time restarting the computer because of me! This is my fault."

"Kari, is this what Tai would've wanted?" Sora asked her. The question gave Kari pause while Sora explained, "I know you've been bummed out since we came back from the Digital World a week ago. It's about Tai isn't it? Do you think he'd want you to be beat yourself up over this?"

Kari hung her head quietly, trying to find the words to express how overwhelmed she felt about everything that happened. Her brother disappearing after finally seeing him again, all the death and destruction from Myotismon's invasion, having to part with her digimon after becoming friends with her, and seeing them all come back for one more battle against the end of the world. And any hope of seeing her brother again was dashed when Izzy learned the truth - he hadn't even met her yet. She tried to remember what Tai had said before he'd left last time - to go out into the world without fear because nothing could stop them. His last words to them were encouragement.

After a long silence, she answered, "No. He wouldn't."

"So don't get down. We'll get online and we'll finish what we started," Sora said encouragingly.

"Okay, we're back online," Izzy said as he restarted the web browser. Upon getting online, the flood of emails nearly overwhelmed his computer while Izzy sputtered, "Oh come on. There has to be a way around this dumb thing."

He clicked away as many windows as he could to open a new window to get back to the website they were on previously. As soon as the site loaded, the sight that welcomed left the four left them silent while Matt's voice growled, "Guys! Where'd you go? You picked a hell of a time to go to the bathroom."

On screen, were the still and battered forms of their digimon. Greymon, MetalGarurumon, Lillymon, MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, Zudomon, MegaKabuterimon, and Garudamon. Gripped tightly in Greymon's arms was Tamer, as unconscious and beaten as the rest of them. The only sign of life was the blinking light from Tamer's digivice, still held firmly in his hand. Kari's brought her hands to her chest as she felt her heart sink again, "No. No! Angewomon! Tai! Greymon!"

Sora was barely able to speak at above a whisper, "Garudamon. What happened?"

"There's three minutes left on the timer," Izzy frowned, "And the emails! They just keep pouring in."

"I don't know what Tamer was thinking. He said they were waiting on help and that it would come, but he didn't say what," Joe's voice shook nervously, "They just...stood there and took it."

In unison, the swarm of Diaboromon cackled playfully like children - a chitter of giggles that unnerved the frozen digidestined. Mimi's face was frozen, "No! It can't end like this."

"This is it, isn't it?" TK hung his head desperately, looking at his partner wide eyed and with no idea what else to do. Matt looked at MetalGarurumon with his mouth hanging open, "You can't give up. Not yet MetalGarurumon. The whole world. Our world. It's all going to end here. You can't stop yet. Not here."

Kari looked down at the defeated Tamer, terrified by the implication of watching him die right here. They would never meet each other on that day Myotismon would invade, she would have never met Gatomon, they would never go on the trip to the Digital World, nor would they have stopped the Dark Masters or saved reality. She wondered if this meant she would forget everything as well and clutched at the screen with tears, "Please. Please, get up. You can't stop here. I don't want everything we've done to disappear. Not like this. Everyone's counting on you! You can see them, right. On Izzy's computer! All the emails he's getting! You can give up. Please, don't give up."

Tamer's digivice stopped beeping and a new window appeared on his screen, "File Transfer Complete."

Kari blinked and Izzy closed out the window, only for a hundred more message windows to pop up on screen. Each window was an email from someone somewhere in the world, all addressed to Izzy and containing messages to cheer them on.

"Don't Give Up."

"Keep Fighting."

"Please protect us."

"You can do it."

"We believe in you."

"Fight to win!"

"Save our world!"

"Save our family!"

The flood of messages cheering them inspired hope and renewed vigor, so much that none of them heard Izzy mumble under his breath about why only some emails were showing. The individual email messages closed and turned into balls of light that danced around the digimon, holding them in their glow and silencing the Diaboromon. In the center of their wounded digimon, MetalGarurumon and Greymon shone the brightest in the amazing display of light. Thunder cracked and light flashed when the lights lashed out all at once, forcing the Diaboromon to move to the corners of the room away from the light. In the center the digidestined's digimon sprang to life - renewed as if they hadn't just been beaten to a pulp and digidestined breathed in relief. Mimi gasped, "Lillymon! You're okay!"

"I'm fine. What is that?" Lilymon said, beholding a white figure emerging from the golden light.

"Is that MetalGarurumon?" Matt looked on, seeing the glow resemble the familiar outline of his partner. Kari shook her head and disagreed, "No. It looks like WarGreymon!"

"I think it's both of them," Izzy commented, "They're becoming one digimon."

"I've heard of this! It's called Digifusion!" Angewomon proclaimed, "You don't think they're becoming-"

"There's no doubt that's who it is," MagnaAngemon declared, "The Royal Knight of the Second Seat."

"Omegamon," a triumphant voice cried out from the light, fading away to show a knight in pale armor and a horned helm. Beneath the helm, a pair of bright blue eyes stared out into the dark with an intensity that left the Diaboromon cowering. It's left pauldron was a golden shield imbued with the crest of courage, leading down to a gauntlet made in the image of WarGreymon's helmet. It's right pauldron was silver and covered in spikes, and led down to a gauntlet in the shape of MetalGarurumon's helmet. Emblazoned upon his chest were the combined symbols of the crest of courage and friendship. The majesty of the newly arrived digimon distracted everyone from hearing MegaKabuterimon mumbling, "Huh, I could've sworn his name was Omnimon."

"Whoa, that's so cool," TK said in awe, "Greymon and MetalGarurumon became one digimon."

"That's DNA Digivolution, or Digifusion," Tamer said, appearing upon Omnimon's shoulder and holding tight so he wouldn't fall off. Angewomon flew beside them and asked, "How is this possible?"

"Of course, the emails!" Izzy said in astonishment. Tamer nodded and showed them his digivce, "Short version: Omegamon here is being fueled by all the positive emotions that I just channeled through the digivice. Millions of positive emotions channeled into energy through this - we can heal digimon and digivolve them into something powerful."

The Diaboromon began moving in coordinated unison, realigning themselves to target the newly digivolved digimon in front of them. MagnaAngemon prepared to open his Gate of Destiny until Omegamon moved before him. With a commanding voice that echoed both WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, "Stand behind me."

"Are you sure?" MagnaAngemon asked, watching the blasts closing in on their position. Omegamon moved the hand that resembled WarGreymon's helmet and produced a steel sword engraved with the letters of an unknown language, "Transcendent Sword."

"Here they come," MegaKabuterimon shouted, moving to protect the smaller digimon under him. Omegamon stood tall and swung his sword with enough force to spin himself in place, kicking back each blast towards the Diaboromon. They broke their ranks and scattered before the returned barrage, vanishing in a hail of fire and smoke as they were blown apart. The remaining Diaboromon scattered in a frenzy while Omegamon raised the arm with MetalGarurumon's head to produce a cannon from its muzzle. Following his lead, the other digimon readied his attack while Tamer shouted, "All of you guys. Together!"

"Supreme Cannon!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Gate of Destiny!"

"Horn Buster!"

The first shot fired by Omegamon created a blast so large that the Diaboromon caught in the blast vanished in a brilliant display of light. The other attacks caught the Diaboromon at the periphery of the blast while a few more thought to throw themselves at the digidestined's digimon. The Gate of Destiny swallowed them whole and they vanished screaming into oblivion. From beside her, Izzy said, "They just eliminated several trillion in a single blast."

The digimon launched another round of attacks on the Diaboromon and blew apart another trillion digimon. Kari watched in awe as whole parts of the screen went white as the Diaboromon were cleared out en masse. The digidestined cheered their partners on while the timer continued to count down until only a minute was left. With that minute remaining, a single Diaboromn darted across the screen in an attempt to escape the attack. Izzy shouted, "There's only one left but the timer hasn't stopped."

"That has to be the one controlling the nuke!" Tamer shouted, fiddling with his digivice, "I can disarm it and try to change its course but I'll need to take back control of the system. To do that, we'll have to take him out."

"Already on it!" Lillymon shouted, taking off in a display of speed the others hadn't seen before. Tamer directed the other digimon, "Stay on him. It's fast so we'll have to box it into a corner to even get it. Garudamon, MagnaAngemon stick left. MegaKabuterimon and Angewomon stick to its right. Zudomon and Omegamon, stay as close behind as you can."

Everyone went in pursuit of Diaboromon, doing what they could to box the digimon. Its speed kept them on the chase and the ticking clock made catching the digimon would be impossible. Matt swore under his breath before mumbling, "This guy moves too fast!"

"You shouldn't swear Matt," TK commented sheepishly.

"We have to slow him down! There has to be some way we can do that, right? Y'know, like how the emails slowed us down!" Sora commented. Realization set in and Izzy went to work on his laptop, "Of course! He emailed us so we can email him back!"

"Izzy, what are you doing?" Kari looked away from the screen briefly to glance at whatever he was doing. He replied, "He's about to get mail."

"Was that supposed to be a one-liner?" Sora's eyes narrowed in disbelief, "Because it was pretty bad."

"Izzy, you're not really the action hero type. You know?" MegaKabuterimon commented, looking away just long enough that he nearly crashed into a random string of ones and zeroes in front of him. Izzy groaned, "Oh, forget it. Send!"

Immediately, Diaboromon froze in place in the center of the room as an hourglass icon appeared over him, rotating as the pixelated sand filled to the bottom. A progress bar appeared over him with a counter indicating the millions of emails he was receiving. Tamer cheered, "Clever, you're definitely the smart one."

"There's twenty seconds!" Matt shouted. Tamer fiddled with his digivice while their digimon closed in on Diaboromon. The mega level made one final attempt to stop them, using all of its might to turn towards them with its chest cannon trying to prime itself. It never had a chance to fire, as it was crushed beneath a hammer, two swords, an arrow, a horn, and two fists. The laughter died and a new window appeared on Izzy's screen - 'Connection Terminated'.

"Ten seconds," Izzy said, watching the timer as it counted down. They could vaguely make the boy out on screen doing something to his digivice and he replied, "Working on it."

The timer continued ticking.

Nine...

Eight...

"You can do it Tai!" Kari said at the screen.

Seven...

Six...

"Five more seconds," Matt shook nervously.

Four...

Three...

"Well, at least we tried," Joe sighed.

"Don't quit yet Joe," Zudomon joked.

Two...

One...

The whole room shook violently and Sora grabbed hold of Kari for safety. Sora's mother knowingly pushed all of them to the floor and used herself to shield them while shouting, "Duck and cover!"

They braced themselves for the roar of the explosion and death - thinking that they were too late to stop the nuclear warhead from detonating. Loose items rattled off tables and bookshelves onto the floor around them. As quickly as their apartment started shaking, it stopped. Silence followed and everyone looked up to see that they were all still alive. From the computer, they heard Tamer sigh, "Done. I don't think we've ever cut it that close before."

"What about that time with the bomb?" Omegamon asked nonchalantly. Tamer shrugged, "Doesn't count. Besides, I like working under pressure."

"Oh shut up!" Angewomon growled, "Kari! Are you there? Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Kari said, feeling tears in her eyes and leaping up towards the screen, "We did it! We won!"

"We beat him. Man, I felt that all the way over here," Joe sighed, reclining in his chair and drawing a long breath. He looked over his shoulder and clicked his tongue, "It was good seeing you guys again. I wish I could chat but I have to sneak back out of here before anyone catches me. Bye!"

"Later Joe!" Zudomon said as Joe disappeared. Once Joe vanished, Omegamon regressed to Gabumon and Agumon - both tired from the battle they'd just fought. Agumon wasn't given any respite as Tamer grabbed hold of him and said, "Whoever the hell you kids are, thanks for the help. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to get yelled at by our boss."

"You mean you have to get yelled at," Agumon corrected his partner. Kari heard this and said, "Wait Tai."

"Nope," Tamer shut her down quickly, "Looks, it's pretty obvious that you guys know me and that we're meeting out of order. I think it's best if we just leave it at this and say good bye for now."

"We do owe them, Tamer," Agumon pointed out, earning him a thankful smile from Kari. Kari's heart skipped a beat when Tamer nodded and looked at her, "Okay, so what's up?"

Her mind raced as she tried to pick the words she would say to her brother, knowing these could be the last ones she could ever say to him. Eventually, she just said the first words that came out of her mouth, "Thank you for letting me see you again."

He shot her a quizzical look until his digivice started beeping again. He examined it quickly and a soft smile appeared on his face, as if he'd been told a secret. With a wink, he replied, "You're welcome."

"What was that about?" Agumon asked curiously. Tamer shrugged, "Eh, it'll make sense when we get to it. Digiport open!"

The screen flashed white for a moment and they all looked away to keep from being blinded. When it subsided, the screen displayed a blank webpage but separate windows were still open for Mimi, Matt and TK. Matt glanced over his shoulders once, "Um, I gotta go. Looks like I'm up for a hair cut."

"What?" Izzy asked. Matt waved it off with an excuse, "Don't worry about it. See you guys later."

His window vanished, signaling the end of the call. Mimi looked at the screen a bit longer and smiled, "I wish I could've talked to Palmon a bit longer...it was good seeing you guys. I have to go now."

Her screen closed too. Sora's mother went to the window and parted the curtains to behold a new sight on the edge of the Tokyo Bay area. A missile crashed into the shallow water and was now the spectacle beholden by hundreds of people on the street, taking pictures and trying to make phone calls. Sora's mother breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."

Sora joined her at the window, "Yeah. Bet that'll be on the news for a while."

"Matt and TK's parents will definitely have their hands full with this one," Izzy noted, closing his laptop, "I think I need a break after all that."

"I think we all do," Kari agreed, falling flat on her back to the floor with a contented smile on her face.


	3. Get Out!

Kari hadn't been asleep long when she heard a loud slam from outside her room, startling here awake. It was her natural reaction to cover her ears with her pillow, to drown out the noise that followed. She hated the slams which had become a routine part of her nights, but she hated what came afterwards. In anticipation, she started humming to drown it out but it didn't help.

"Stop making all the noise! Do you know what time it is? Kari is sleeping!" her mom shouted.

"Well youse better makes shure because that'sh what you saids last times!" her dad replied, slurring his words and audibly stumbling outside.

"Dammit, you're drunk again. Stop staying out so late."

"What if I am!? I'm an adult…I'm," he hiccuped before continuing, "Pays the bills! I can does whatever...I likes!"

"Stop shouting! You're going to wake Kari up!"

"If you care...so much about Carey...Kari...then go check…check her rooms!"

"How can I when I have to make sure you don't choke on your vomit after you get home!"

"Oh, don't...don't get mad at me! I work for...for a livings!" her father retorted before stumbling, "All you hads...have to do is stay home and watch the...kids!"

"On, so you're blaming me!?" her mother shouted. There was a loud groan, "Leave me...alone, woman. I'm gonna see what the eats...what's in the fridge!"

She heard more stumbling as her father made his way to the kitchen.

"Maybe you wouldn't be hungry if you stopped going out to drink after work!" her mother snapped while she heard stomps to the fridge. Her dad didn't respond for the longest time until saying, "Maybe I'd come home...if you'd stop blaming me for…for Tai!"

"I don't blame you!" her mother shouted. Her dad snickered, "Good! Because...you're the...you're the one who was supposed to watch...watch him!"

"Well maybe you should've helped out! I'm busy and I can't take care of them by myself!" her mother responded, which made her dad snicker, "You!? Busy!? With whats!? You don't does…do anything but watch the kids and…the housework! I'm the...the one working overtime to make sure...make sure we have enough money to...to pays the bills and buys foods and clothes and stuffs...don'tsh blames me for that!"

"Get out!" her mom snapped so loudly that Kari opened her eyes. Her dad scoffed, "Oh...oh I gets out! Pfft! Okay. And what'll happens to you...you! Are you going to get a job for once? Pfft."

His dad started laughing his drunken laugh - one that was as cold as it was unforgiving. She closed her eyes hard when she head the sound of a plate shattering, accompanied by a scream, "Get out of my apartment!"

"Your apartment? Pfft! I'm paying for everything! You get out of _my_ apartment!" her dad snapped, "Go on! Get out! And you...you know what..."

"Where are you going?" her mom asked. Kari heard footsteps growing louder until the door to her bedroom slammed open. Her eyes opened wide in terror at the sight of her dad standing over her with an angered scowl and her nostrils flared in disgust from the smell of liquor. He walked over to the bed and pulled her out so quickly that she yelped in terror. Any effort to wriggle and scream meant nothing while her mother shouted, "What are you doing! Leave her alone!"

"I will!" her dad shouted, throwing her into her mother's arms. She felt hot tears streaming down her cheek in fear and her mother hugged her close to comfort her. Despite that, her father shouted, "Get out!"

"What are you doing you drunk?" Her mother demanded only to be met with a harsh shout, "You took my son from me! You might as well take my daughter too!"

"He was my son too!" Her mom shouted back only to be met with a harsh slap, "Get out of my apartment!"

The anger had sobered him up at that moment and he seemed to realize what he'd done. Kari had buried her face completely into her mom's chest now, clinging to her for protection. She was so scared, so terrified, she didn't notice her father apologize and try to hug them both. What she did notice was her mom shouting, "GET OUT!"

Kari's kept her eyes shut but she couldn't mistake the sound of footsteps. Her father made a choking nose before slamming his fist on something and heading out the door. As soon as it shut behind him, she heard a shout from outside. For her part, her mother had gone to sit on the couch, still holding Kari tight in her arms and comforting her after what had just happened. She may have been young but she wasn't stupid. She understood that this would be the last time she'd see her dad for a while.

 


	4. First Day of School

Kari had to switch school districts once the summer break had concluded. Some of the schools were unusable, destroyed or damaged in the fighting. Of the handful that survived, most didn't have enough students to justify staying open. So school districts were redrawn and students were sent to different schools to at least provide some semblance of normalcy.

All of this was lost on Kari as she stood outside the gates of her new school, disappointed that she didn't recognize anybody here. She'd hoped that she would see at least one of her friends but found none of them. It was probably for the best since the last time she saw any of them, it was running out of a birthday party she'd been invited to upon learning her brother may still be alive. There would be no way for her to explain that to them - with how difficult the circumstance already was. And the odds of running into any of the other digidestined at this school were low since they all lived around Tokyo.

She glanced down at the digivice she'd clipped to her little back pack and steeled herself by recalling the final words her brother had said to her in the Digital World - that she could do anything she wanted and overcome anything after what she'd experienced. It was a tiny measure of comfort and she took her first steps into the new school.

As she forced herself forward into her first day, she wondered what the others were up to at that moment. Perhaps she would run into them - Sora, Matt, TK, Mimi, Joe, or Izzy. Perhaps she'd been too harsh to assume she wouldn't find any of them. After all, she'd heard that they'd be sharing a building with students at the junior high level, and learned it was true when she saw several students in green uniforms.

Her classroom was on the second floor where she was disappointed to learn that she was the last one there. Most of the students were chatting idly amongst themselves, divided by gender with the girls on one side and boys on the other. The boys read comics, traded cards, and played with action figures, while the girls talked about the music they liked listening to or the magazines they brought with them. In the center of the boy's side was a single boy with short, spiky brown hair making a ruckus about the goggles he was wearing.

For a moment, Kari thought it was her brother but knew better than to think that. His situation was complicated and there was no way he'd suddenly just appear in her school at her grade level. The boy snarled at another, "Why don't you say that to my face!?"

"I just did!" said another boy to his face, "They're stupid and you're stupid for liking them Davis!"

Davis. She remembered that name from the day her cat disappeared. This was the boy who found her, who's sister carried her home, and who tried to protect her when all the chaos followed. She shook her head to break herself out of her stupor when one of the girls pulled her away, explaining that the boys had been arguing since they walked in and it was better to ignore them because of how stupid they were being.

She joined their side and they each got to know each other as new friends. As hard as she tried, Kari still found her attention always being pulled to Davis and the other boys. They only stopped when the teacher stepped in and told them to settle down or they would have to deal with detention. By some stroke of luck, Kari found herself sitting in the front row with Davis at the desk next to her.

After a quick talk about his expectations for the new year, their new teacher began roll call and asked each student to introduce themselves as their name was called. One by one, each student's name was called and they said something about themselves. Upon calling his name, Davis jumped out his chair, "Present! My name is Davis Motomiya! I like soccer; playing it and watching it! When I grow up, I want to be the best soccer player out there!"

"Not with those goggles," the boy who'd antagonized him earlier joked. Davis turned on the boy immediately but refrained from doing anything under the teacher's watchful eye. The teacher sighed and asked them to stop bullying each other, just as Kari quietly added, "I think they're cool."

"Really?" The girl sitting next to her asked. Kari sheepishly nodded, "My brother had a pair like those. I like it."

"See! Kari gets it!" Davis pointed out to the others. Their teacher sighed and warned them again to settle down before he started handing out detentions and calling parents. This calmed the class down again and roll call proceeded normally. Another outburst didn't occur until Kari's name was called, "Present. My name is Kari Kamiya. I like playing with my cat Miko and being with my parents."

"And Davis," the boy who'd been harassing Davis joked playfully. Most of the class oohed until the teacher slammed a ruler on his podium. They fell silent and watched him point it at the boy, calmly telling him to go stand in the hall and that he would be serve the first detention of the year. Kari felt her face flush but pretended nothing was wrong, noticing that Davis had also turned a bright shade of red.

From there, the day went on normally until their lunch break when the teacher left class to go to the teacher's offices. Some of the students went to the cafeteria to get food while the others ate the box lunches their parents made. Everyone pushed their desks together to talk and she had been invited to join the girls but decline when she noticed Davis hadn't gone to push his chair with the other boys. Instead, she found herself pushing her desk against his and asked, "Do you mind if we have lunch together?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Davis said, producing a boxed lunch of rice and sliced hot dogs. Kari's had a mix of sandwiches and pickled plums that she liked and the two sat quietly, trying to ignore the many looks they were getting from their peers who thought it was weird that a boy and a girl would want to sit together.

The two would occasionally glance at the other as they ate quietly until eventually Kari couldn't stand the silence any more and said, "I don't know if you remember. But...thanks for helping me out."

"Oh...uh, no problem," Davis answered sheepishly, "How are you feeling? Any better?"

"Yeah...I'm fine," she nodded quietly, shifting her gaze to his goggles, "Your goggles really are cool."

"Oh yeah," Davis spoke with a bit more enthusiasm, adjusting the pair he wore on his head, "They are cool, aren't they? I got'em after what happened - I didn't stop bugging my parents until they let me have one. So what happened to you after that one kid kicked us all out?"

Kari opened her mouth to answer but paused as she realized she probably couldn't ever talk about her trip to the Digital World. She stumbled over her words as she scrambled to think of something to say, "Um...we...that...is...we...beat the bad guy and everything was okay. What about you?"

"I wanted to help out but everyone kept telling me to sit it out," Davis grumbled in frustration, "I hate it when everyone treats me like a little kid."

Kari couldn't help but smile and added, "We'll I'm glad you're okay."

"Same," he smiled back. Kari had no idea where this new year would be going or what it would bring. She was just glad that she had a familiar face to be there beside her, a friend who hadn't been worn down after everything that had happened. It made the prospect of facing what the world had in store for them bearable, even exciting. She felt her smile widen, oblivious to her classmates who were surprised by a boy and a girl getting along so well.

 


	5. Diary Entry

_9/6/99_

_Dear Diary_

_You won't believe who I met today in class. Davis, the boy who found me out on the bridge with his sister and helped me home. He's wearing goggles now like Tai does and he talks about how cool they are. The other boys make fun of him but they're dumb. Plus, they stop whenever he beats them at soccer. He's really good at it. Almost as good as Tai. I have to go now because Miko just threw up on the carpet._

_Love Kari_

* * *

_10/1/99_

_Dear Diary_

_Sorry I haven't written in so long. I've been playing with Davis a lot. He's a lot of fun and he always wants to play soccer and I'm not very good at that. We went to the park after school today and played with some of the other kids too. Some of them teased us because we hang out a lot but we're just friends and Davis is so cool. He showed me his secret stash of candy that he keeps in a box under his pillow. I think it's cool that he has that and he's awesome for sharing it with me._

_Love Kari_

* * *

_10/4/99_

_Dear Diary_

_Davis did something bad today. He got into a fight with one of the other kids in school but he wouldn't say why. He got real quiet around me too. I wish he would tell me what's wrong. When I asked, he told me to shut up and I wouldn't understand. Why do boys have to be so dumb?_

* * *

_10/19/99_

_Dear Diary_

_It's been two weeks since Davis told me to shut up and he didn't talk to me until today. He said he was sorry, that I'm not dumb and that he still wants to be friends. I told him I'd forgive him if he gave me all of his candy in his stash. And then he did it. Boys really are kinda dumb. I think I'm going to keep some under my bed for safe keeping._

* * *

11/1/99

_Dear Diary_

_Miko got into the candy while I was at school. She threw up everywhere and mom was mad at me. She thought I was sneaking candy when she wasn't looking and grounded me. Dad told her not to be so mean but I think he only said that to be nice. He's still trying to make up for leaving. I think mom wanted to yell at him, but she didn't because she saw me. I hope dad doesn't leave again. I missed him._

* * *

11/2/99

_I'm so bored! Mom won't let me do anything. I think Davis is upset that we're not playing anymore and I think he thinks I'm mad at him. I'm not mad and I said it's because I'm grounded but I don't think he believes me. I don't know anyone else in our grade and I don't want to not have any friends. Sora came by today to visit though and that made me feel better. We talked. She does go to the school I go to but we never see each other because we're in different grades. She apologized for not coming around more. She still does soccer though, which I think is cool. Then we talked about Tai. We haven't heard from him since he got stuck. I hope he comes back soon. I miss him and Agumon and Gatomon and all of our digimon friends. Maybe we can go back someday. I'll tell you all about it when that happens._

* * *

11/16/99

_Dear Diary_

_I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. There's been nothing to write about since mom grounded me since I can't do anything but sit in my room. I'm so bored. Miko keeps me company, but she makes me miss Gatomon. I miss the Digital World. I miss Tai._

* * *

_11/16/99_

_Trying to put gloves on Miko was a very bad idea. I'm not doing that again._

* * *

11/16/99

_Miko hates tale rings too. Don't do that either._

* * *

_2/2/00_

_Dear Diary_

_I think Davis likes me. Like-likes me. I don't know what to do. I mean, I like him but I don't…like-like him. I don't know what I should do though. It looks like he was going to get me something for Valentine's Day. I don't know what I should do if he does. Maybe I should pretend it's just a friend thing and get him something too?_

* * *

_2/14/00_

_Dear Diary_

_Yeah, Davis definitely has a crush on me. I never noticed it before until one of the girls in our class pointed it out but the only girl he hangs out with is me. And he is nicer to me than anyone else. I still don't know what I should do._

* * *

_3/10/02_

_Dear Diary_

_I think it's been a couple of years since I wrote in you. I just didn't know what to write about since Davis and…I don't know. There's supposed to be a new student coming to our class soon. Some delinquent from another school who supposedly shaved his principal's head. Davis said he would protect me and keep him from messing with me. Davis is sweet but I still don't know how to tell him that I don't…like-like him back. The more time goes by, the more he reminds me of Tai. I hope he's okay._

* * *

_3/11/02_

_Dear Diary_

_Something wonderful happened today! That delinquent who was transferring in? Turns out it was TK! He's gotten a lot taller since I last saw him. And he still wears hats for some reason, even in class. Turns out he's not a delinquent, he just has really bad luck. Davis got jealous right away. And guess what else? We went to the Digital World today! Even Davis got to go. Turns out he's a digidestined like us and he has a partner too! Veemon! There's a new guy called the Digimon Emperor who's enslaving digimon and forcing them to fight each other against their will. I'm worried though, because every digimon who survived him says he has messy hair, goggles, blue clothes, and wears a cape. It sounds like Tai. But I hope it isn't. The problem is, we haven't seen him at all. TK, Davis, and I met up with Sora and the others after school to talk about it. We don't know why the gate has opened again and some of them were worried that more trouble was ahead. I just hope we see Tai soon._


	6. His Coat

Kari decided to walk to school that morning on such a beautiful spring day, wearing her older brother's long blue coat with his goggles tucked away into the coat pocket. It was a perfect day: the sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and the air filled with all the smells of freshly bloomed flowers. The only thing ruining it was the fact that she had to be up so early for school. As she walked along, she found herself passing Sora waiting just outside Matt and TK's apartment complex. The two girls waved at each other and smiled, "Hey Sora!"

"Hi Kari."

"Waiting for Matt?" Kari asked. Sora nodded quietly and blushed. They were officially a couple now. An actual couple. Just thinking about it made Kari's heart race and her face flush. Although they were keeping it quiet so that Sora wouldn't get harassed by the Matt's legion of fangirls. Sora nodded, "He takes forever to do his hair. How about you?"

"Just enjoying the morning," Kari answered. Sora nodded towards her coat, "I see you still wear it."

She nodded and answered, "It's a lot comfier than it looks."

Even though the weather warmed up, it was never too hot to wear. And in winter, it was never too thin. It was like the coat was always comfortable to wear, no matter what conditions she was in. Although it was too big for her; she had to roll up the sleeves to get her hands out.

Although she hadn't told anyone about the pockets yet because they were surprisingly deep. She'd dropped the coat once and witnessed several balls and coins roll out. When she dug deeper in to see how much more was in there, she pulled out a bunch of old books, knives, jars of honey, a tea set, a watch, a cup of coffee that was still warm, a half eaten sandwich that looked like it was just made, and other various things that couldn't possibly fit in the pockets but were still there. For safety, she put it all back out of fear of what else Tai would've kept in there.

Sora frowned, "Is that the only reason you're still wearing it?"

Kari was stunned by the question but understood what Sora was trying to get at. It had been months since they'd last seen him; months since WarGreymon went back to the Digital World to find him. Occasionally WarGreymon would send a message to their D-Terminals to remind them he was still looking and would keep looking for as long as it would take. Until then, the only reminder she had of him were the memories and his coat. His long, blue coat that was always comfortable and had impossibly deep pockets

Kari nodded, "I miss him but I'm not waiting for him."

Sora seemed unconvinced and explained, "I'm just worried, Kari. I haven't forgotten about what happened last time. You were devastated."

"I know. And thanks for worrying about me Sora," Kari said, going to hug the girl who had basically been like an older sister to her. Now that they weren't busy saving the Digital World, they were all free to spend time with each other. They were interrupted as Matt, TK, Yolei, and Cody came downstairs, "Um, did we miss something?"

"Just girl talk," Sora assured her boyfriend. Kari and Yolei giggled happily while Matt ran a hand through his hair anxiously, "I wish you would tell me what that means."

Then he noticed Kari's coat, "You're still wearing that?"

Kari sighed, then giggled when TK slapped the back of his head. Matt realized he'd misstepped and quickly apologized but she found it funny to see TK have to correct him like this. Matt offered a half smile before pointing out that they needed to hurry if they were going to get to school on time. Matt took Sora's hand and the pair walked to the front with the rest of their group following just behind. Kari and Yolei couldn't help but giggle as they saw the young couple just in front of them, wondering how far their relationship had gone at this point. All was well.


	7. Sisters

The digidestined went to the shrine for the New Year's Festival the next morning. They were all tired after the night they'd just had and were barely awake. Still, they decided it would be nice to just relax after the year they'd had, hoping for a bette or year than the one they'd just had. They'd all come with their parents too, hoping to blend in with the large crowds coming for the celebration.

Kari looked around the crowded shrine and immediately spotted Davis and his family. He was animatedly talking to Ken who seemed a little annoyed. More than that, she noticed that Ken was standing next to Yolei who looked just as annoyed that Davis wouldnt stop talking to them. But one other person stood out - Davis's older sister Jun.

She was a short distance away from her family, her arms folded and her gaze cast downward away from the rest. She hadn't seen her since Christmas and was left to wonder how she was doing since her brother came back. It probably wasn't going to help that she was wearing Tai's coat still - and she contemplated taking it off before going to say hi.

"Hey, Jun," she greeted the older girl. She looked up but her gaze stopped at Kari's coat. Tai's coat. When she finally looked her in the face, she said, "Hey...um, Kari right?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "I saw you were by yourself and thought I'd say hi."

Jin's gaze went back to her coat, and she began fiddling with the pendant hanging from her neck, "Is...is that his coat?"

"Yeah, it is," Kari answered, guiltily realizing what must be going through Jun's mind at that exact moment. She and Taichi had been on a date when all of this happened - she had seen Taichi surrender himself to awaken her brother. And she could see Jun averting her gaze to avoid seeing the coat. She had to change the subject quickly. But nothing came to mind. Before she knew it, Jun was asking her, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah anything, what's up," Kari said enthusiastically, glad that she was changing the subject for her. In truth, she wasn't sure how to address Jun right now. Then again, the expression on her face showed that she was just as troubled - she wanted to ask her question. And eventually, she seemed to summon the courage to start, "I don't remember a lot about...Tamer from before. I remember something about him being your brother and that he was looking for you."

"Yeah, that's about right," Kari admitted sheepishly, not wanting to correct her on some things. Then Jun asked, "Does it ever get easier? Him not being around I mean. I...it's only been a couple of days so I don't expect to get over it right away. But I...I just can't stop thinking about him."

She looked like she wanted to cry but was trying her hardest not to. Kari knew exactly what she was talking about and answered, "No. It never did at first. You remember when we first met? I saw Davis and my first thought was that he looked like Tai. But he wasn't. He was...he's gone now. And I don't think he's coming back."

"Yeah, Davis filled me in," Jun answered grimly, "Something about how he died but digimon don't really die so he'l probably come back and I won't recognize him. I think that's what hurts the most - is that I can never see him again."

Kari knew those feelings, and moved to hug the older girl - she'd wanted nothing more than to see her brother again, for so long. And now she was sure she wouldn't even recognize him if he did appear. Jun let out a small sob as her composure finally broke for the first time in a while. However, she quickly pushed Kari away and began wiping at her eyes, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to be a bother."

"It's fine, Jun," Kari nodded, "I get it. I really do."

As she observed the older girl, she noted a necklace hanging around her neck - a delicate chain that connected to a heart shaped locket. Jun had been fondling it with one hand for some time, brushing it with her fingers carefully as she kept her gaze downward. It didn't take much to put two and two together, "Was that a gift from Taichi?"

"Tamer said it was from him," Jun replied, "He said that Taichi wanted to give it to me. Before...all this. He also said...that even though Taichi wasn't real, his feelings were. And..."

She paused again, her voice starting to waver as her thoughts went back to the fake personality. Kari looked down at her own coat, though. His coat. He'd given gifts away just before he was supposed to carry on. But why though? Was it a farewell gift because he knew the end was coming? Then it occurred to her that without him around, there were no Ancients left to the Digital World. At least, not one who wanted to.

"Anyway. You've probably noticed that Davis likes you, if he hasn't already blurted it out already," Jun said, trying to change the subject. Kari felt like she was bad at this. She had come over to help Jun feel better but it seemed like all she'd done was have Jun cry. Still, Kari had to admit, "Yeah, he admitted everything in the Digital World."

"Was he a doofus about it like he usually is?" Jun smirked, finally smiling properly for the first time. Kari shook his head, "No...he was real sincere about it. He wanted to talk about it because...he knew that I knew he liked me. But he wanted me to know...something else."

She paused, unsure of how to explain that a lot of her friendship with Davis had been because she could only see him as a brother surrogate. It seemed silly now to have to address it that way. Because he wasn't. But she had been so desperate to get him back that she had Davis filling in his place for her. And that wasn't fair to him.

Jun smiled, "Yeah, he's a doofus. But he's a smart doofus. He's always noticed things other couldn't. And he always has to bring it up. That kid can't leave well enough alone."

They both laughed about it, but Kari added, "Yeah, but we would've lost if he hadn't been so nosy. If it wasn't for him...we'd still all be trapped."

Jun sighed, "What's wrong with us?"

"Huh?" Kari turned her head.

"It's a new year and all we've done is talk about boys. What's up with that?" Jun asked, offering Kari a hand, "Come on. How about we go get some tea from the shop? We can have a nice chat."

Kari thought about the invitation for a moment. She'd never really spoken to Jun or gotten to know her. Now seemed like a good time to change that. Kari nodded, taking Jun's hand and following Jun to the nearby tea stand.


	8. Digidestined Forever

The New Year passed quickly into spring without any incident. It was like peace had returned to the Real World after all the chaos caused by Myotismon's latest attempt to take over. All was calm.

Or so it seemed, when the strangest of things started circulating on the internet. And, it went without saying, the first of the digidestined to notice it was Izzy in his bedroom as he typed away on his computer. It was the oddest thing but it was immediately familiar - occurring when an email opened on his computer without prompt to display a simple image. His jaw hit the floor when he saw Matt Ishida in sports jacket and Sora in a yellow blouse sitting at a table on a date together.

Izzy did a double take on seeing it, and quickly opened up his web browser to investigate the appearance of the image. His favorite image boards and forums were suddenly blowing up with people posting about weird emails from unknown addresses containing simple images. It was made all the worse when Izzy's screen was replaced by a gate - a Digital gate he had seen so many times before. But this one was different. It appeared older, reminiscent of the temple in the Digital World. When it cracked open, a single jellyfish digimon with a single eye burst out of the screen and into his bedroom. It cooed and squirmed around his bed room. Izzy's jaw fell and his heart sank as he understood what was happening, "Oh no, not this again."

* * *

Kari, Gatomon, TK, Patamon, Davis, and Veemon hurried into school in the middle of what should've been their spring break - annoyed by the fact that they'd been called there so suddenly by Izzy. He hadn't said why they'd been called, only that it was an emergency and to come quickly. TK was the first to get the message and he ran to get the others. What he didn't expect was Kari to still be wearing Tamer's coat.

"Do you think he broke something in the school again?" Patamon asked, "He goes through computers like toilet paper."

"If it wash a computer, why would he call Davish?" Veemon asked seriously. Davis groaned in protest at his partner, "Veemon, dude!"

Veemon shrugged innocently, "What? You sherioushly don't know a thing about electronicsh! You tried to fix your gameboy by smacking it with a hammer!"

"Come on, Veemon," Davis groaned, now thoroughly embarrassed by his partner. As they reached the computer, Davis knocked on it and heard Yolei's voice inside, "Digi digi!"

It was a system Izzy and Ken had come up with for secrecy - a series of code words that had to be answered with the right code words. Life had become a lot more difficult for them ever since it came out that they were they digidestined. And the last thing they wanted was to get a bunch of people involved in something that could get them killed. Davis answered, "Mon mon."

The door unlocked and slid open to reveal the darkened computer lab. Everyone was assembled there except for Mimi, Palmon, Sora, and Biyomon. Izzy nodded upon seeing them enter, "Thanks for coming so quickly. We have a serious problem. This showed up in my bedroom!"

He pressed a few keys on his computer and displayed his computer on the projector - on the screen was a jellyfish like blob bouncing around back and forth along the screen. The digidestined all immediately knew what it was, with Matt growling, "Again? Why is there another one here?"

"That's not the worst of it," Izzy explained as he pressed a few more keys, "This one is contained. Tentomon helped me nab it and Ken helped me develop an emergency program to contain them until we figure out what to do with them."

"It was slimy and disgusting," Tentomon added disgustfully while he shuddered. Izzy went on, "After doing extensive searching around the internet, it looks like everyone with a computer or a phone or any other device that can connect to the internet was attacked by a Kuramon shortly after receiving one of these images."

He pressed a few more keys to show the rest - an image of each of the original seven digidestined in their normal lives. Matt and Sora on a date, Izzy staring into his computer monitor, Joe walking into his father's clinic. It also had TK and Kari together in their class photo, Mimi on vacation in Hawaii. Then the last image came on screen - an image of twenty children of varying ages lined up in ranks beside an older man, all adorned in what looked like black uniforms and white armor beside digimon. Beneath it were indecipherable runes that Izzy translated with a press of a button.

'Thirteenth Youth Corp - Commanding Officer Legatus Primarus and Palmon, Second-in-Command The Digital Keeper and Gabumon, The Trainer and Dorumon'. On and on it went until it came upon the last name, 'The Digimon Tamer and Agumon'. Izzy explained, "It's us. It's all of us. Whatever is going on with these Kuramon showing up definitely has to do with Diaboromon last time, otherwise it wouldn't have attached these images of us to it."

"So what are you thinking Izzy?" Joe asked apprehensively, already knowing where this was going. Izzy pressed a few more keys on his computer before answering, "We use the digivices to open a gate into the internet. All the emails came from a single email address. Ken, Davis, Imperialdramon, Matt, and MetalGarurumon will go check it out at the source. The rest of us will stay behind and round up as many of these digimon as we can before we have an army of Diaboromon running around. We'll need to split up into pairs to cover more ground if we want to deal with this. Kari and Gatomon can go with Joe and Gomamon, Yolei and Hawkmon can go with Cody and Armadillomon, and Tentomon and I'll go with TK and Patamon."

"What about Sora?" Biyomon asked sheepishly. Matt frowned, "She messaged me on the D-Terminal. She's on her way back from tennis camp now but it'll be a while. She'll come to pick you up as soon as she arrived. And Palmon is on her way with Mimi. You two can team up together. Oh! While I remember."

He stepped away to open up a bag filled with old laptops, passing them out to each pair, "I rigged these together as quickly as I could. They're spares so I'm not worried about getting them back. The program was copied to each of these devices, so we can contain the Kuramon that way. Oh, and one more thing!"

Izzy passed one to Biyomon, "Mimi's plane will be landing in a few hours. I don't know when Sora will get here but you guys use this one."

"Okay!" Biyomon nodded and tucked the laptop under her wing.

"Should we get the others involved?" Davis asked, "Like Noriko and all those other kids? Maybe even Oikawa?"

Izzy nodded, "I emailed them the details. They don't have a lot of experience with fighting and their digimon are still mostly babies. So I told them to protect their neighborhoods and to catch any Kuramon they find."

There was one question sitting on all their minds now, but only Joe was willing to ask, "You don't think he'll be firing nukes again, d'you?"

"I have no idea, which makes it more imperative that we stop this now while we still can," Izzy answered grimly. Cody disagreed quickly, "It could be revenge based. I mean...it's photos of you guys. And you guys were the ones who defeated him last time. He could be after you."

"Izzy thought of that but thought it'd be better if we weren't worried about that," age tomon answered happily. They all had another question on their minds; one that none of them felt too awkward to ask about in front of Kari. In the end, Gatomon had to ask for them, "Anything from WarGreymon?"

Izzy paused before answering, "I messaged him. He says he's still looking for The Digimon Tamer. It seems he's on to something and wants to see if it'll pan out. He also said to let him know if things get out of hand and he'll help us."

"This isn't one of his dumb destiny type things, is it?" Gabumon asked nervously, "Because it'd be weird to have past Tamer show up again."

Cody shook his head, recalling Agumon's own words, "No. He told us he doesn't care as much about destiny. That was Tamer's thing, not his. If they were going to show up again, he'd tell us."

Matt sighed, "Let's not waste any more time. Let's get to work."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Ken started approaching Izzy's computer and looking over his shoulder at the others. Wormmon, Matt, Gabumon, Davis and Veemon gathered around him - all ready to follow him through. Ken held out his digivice and started, "Digiport Open!"

* * *

The falling sensation was replaced by a floating sensation and the blinding white light lead into a large white room complete with floating words and images that connected to each other in a nonsensical way. Davis gasped, "Dude, we're on the internet! Quick, check out Izzy's browsing history!"

"Oh no you don't!" Izzy's voice echoed. A large window appeared beside them with Izzy sitting in front of it. If they had to guess, this was the other side of Izzy's computer monitor, "You guys are on your own separate connection now. That way, you won't have to worry about us when we're not hooked up. Now good luck."

Izzy's window disappeared, leaving them in the empty floating void and floating around aimlessly. Davis tried to correct himself but was unsure which was up and complained, "This is annoying! Does anyone know which way is up? I'm getting nauseous."

"If you puke, we can use whichever way it goes to figure out where down is," Gabumon reasoned. Ken shivered and replied, "Yeah, no. We're not doing that. Here, let's try this instead."

He produced a handful of coins from his pocket and flipped them in the air so that they went flying. Whichever they fell had to be down. Unfortunately, he watched as they drifted off aimlessly in different directions. Ken frowned, disappointed that his idea didn't work, "Never mind. No direction is down. So now where do we go?"

"Following the endless stream of Kuramon sounds like a good idea," Matt suggested as pointed out the endless stream of baby digimon pouring out of a long tunnel at the end of the room. Davis agreed and punched the air and raised up his digivice, "Alright! Let's go!"

The others followed his lead so that their partner's could begin the digivolution.

"Veemon! Digivolve to! ExVeemon!"

"Wormmon! Digivolve to! Stingmon!"

"ExVeemon! Stingmon! DNA Digivolve to! Paildramon!"

"Paildramon! Digivolve to! Imperialdramon!"

"Gabumon! Warp Digivolve to! MetalGarurumon!"

"Imperialdramon! Mode Shift to! Imperialdramon Fighter Mode!"

They climbed aboard their partners and soared after the endless stream of Kuramon who came pouring past them. Davis exclaimed in surprise, "Man, I'd hate to see the digimon who laid all of the eggs for these things. There's gotta be hundreds of them!"

Matt grumbled, "Then let's take them down a notch and help the others. The more we stop on this side, the less there'll be in the Real World!"

"I was just thinking the same thing. Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon fired a series of missiles from his back that blanketed the area. In an instant, hundreds of tiny digimon vanished. Imperialdramon followed his lead and primed his arm cannon, "I like this idea! _It's our turn now!_ Positron Laser!"

A large beam of energy fired from Imperialdramon's cannon and destroyed even more Kuramon. But for every one they killed, another would appear to take its place. Whatever was waiting for them in the other end of this stream couldn't be good.

* * *

Everyone filed out of the classroom once they were done. With any luck, they'd be able to take care of the Kuramon on this side quickly. Joe remarked as they filed out the door, "We got a long day ahead of us. We should get started while the number of Kuramon is still small."

"Alright, good luck e'erybody!" Armadillomon said as they broke into their group and made their way around the city following the signals on their digivices pointing them at the Kuramon. As they went their separate ways, Kari was stopped by TK at the door, "Hey Kari, you are okay, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Kari blinked, certain she knew where he was going with this. He massaged the back of his neck and added, "It's just...you've been kinda quiet since New Year's. And with this all happening, especially that image of Ta-um, I mean Tai. You're okay right?"

Kari rubbed her arm nervously. She hadn't thought she was being quiet. If anything, she thought he was going to bring up the fact that he was still wearing her brother's coat, "Yes, I'm fine TK. He said he'd come back, and I believe that."

TK went on, "It's just...I thought that photo might bring up some bad memories. He never really talked about the war, even when he was around. And that last time we had a problem on the internet, he showed up with those other Ancients and didn't even recognize us. So…well, I'm just worried about you."

Kari frowned, knowing what TK was implying. They had watched as people Tai and Agumon knew were killed right in front of them, while they and their partners survived. And there were more people in that photo than they'd met - which meant he'd lost more than he'd ever talked about. But there wasn't much point in dwelling on it. That was in the past. And she swore she wouldn't let it hold her down anymore. She smiled anyway, "It's okay TK. I'm fine."

"You're starting to smile like he did," TK observed and Kari blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Just something about him that Davis mentioned. His smile always seemed kinda sad, like he was trying to forget something. As soon as Davis brought it up, I realized the smile always seemed kinda forced," TK explained quietly, massaging the back of his neck again awkwardly, "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to talk about this."

Kari smiled at that - Davis may not have been the smartest person, but always could notice things others couldn't. She turned that smile towards TK, "Thanks for worrying about me."

They were interrupted only when Izzy poked his head in the door and stated, "Hey, hurry it up you two! We're burning daylight!"

"That's right! We're not going to go stand a chance if any of these digimon get to their Mega level! We have to go now!" Tentomon added frantically, reminding them of just how much trouble they were in the first time this happened. Kari nodded quickly and went to go join him, "Sorry Izzy, we were just talking."

"I wouldn't call it talking," her partner added quietly, making Kari shoot her a cold glare. TK groaned and joined Izzy while Kari ran off to follow Joe. Kari could feel TK's gaze on her just a little bit longer but tried to ignore it, "So where do we head to first, Joe?"

Joe shrugged, "Your digivice is the one with the built in tracker. You lead the way and I'll follow you."

Kari nodded and examined her digivice, "We've got a signal from a soccer field not that far from here. No wait, it's moving. We'd better hurry and catch it!"

"Good thing I brought this," Joe smiled as he led the way to a bike rack where his lone bicycle sat chained up. Once he rolled the bike out, Kari climbed on while their partners leapt into the basket on the bicycle. When they arrived, they found several kids playing soccer while a jelly fish blob Kuramon bounced around them. Eventually, it knocked one of the kids over and took the ball, cooing playfully.

If they didn't know what the Kuramon would become, they would've gladly let the game unfold. But this wasn't the time for that. Joe and Kari looked at their partners, "You guys ready?"

"We just gotta catch it and send it back to Izzy, right?" Gomamon repeated, "No problem! YAAHH!'

He leapt out of Joe's bike and face planted as he realized that his flipper like arms weren't going to do him any good in pursuing the digimon. Gatomon sighed, mumbling something about sending a seal to do a cat's job, "Never mind, let me catch it!"

* * *

It didn't take long for either Imperialdramon or MetalGarurumon to reach the end of the swarm of Kuramon, where they found a large white room. And in the center was a cloud of the Kuramon dancing around a black sphere in the center. Diaboromon rested in its heart, laughing at them manically while it's chittering voice repeated, "Target world designated for destruction. All will perish. Target world designated for destruction. All will perish."

"That voice will never stop being annoying," MetalGarurumon grumbled, "Let's end this already and shut him up. METAL WOLF CLAW!"

Every hatch in his body opened to fire an endless array of missiles towards Diaboromon. The Kuramon reacted and threw themselves in front of every missile, detonating them before any of them got close. With every Kuramon destroyed, another one would take its place - leaving a thick smoke in the room that obscured the cloud of Kuramon. Still, they knew Diaboromon was alive when the first blast of energy shot out from the haze. Both digimon dove out of the way to avoid the blasts, with Ken pointing out loudly, "We'll need something a little stronger! Imperialdramon!"

" _I'm on it!_ Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon answered, priming his cannon and firing his arm cannon at the mega level digimon. The beam of white light parted the smoke and revealed more Kuramon throwing themselves in harm's way to protect the Diaboromon, still cackling at them manically from across the white room.

Davis growled, "What's with this guy? He's just letting the Kuramon take all the punches!"

"He's got to run out of Kuramon eventually," Matt reasoned, ready to press the attack again. The only reason he didn't was Ken pointing out, "We don't have the time to clear them all out! All it takes is one to digivolve!"

"Okay, so what do we do?" Davis asked grumpily.

Ken answered, "A simultaneous attack. MetalGarurumon, concentrate your missiles on one spot to clear a corridor for us. Imperialdramon will use that corridor to charge ahead and take a point blank shot at Diaboromon."

"That could work," Imperialdramon nodded approvingly, " _Let's give it a shot ExVeemon!_ Okay, lead the way MetalGarurumon!"

"ON IT! METAL WOLF CLAW!" MetalGarurumon cried out, aiming all his rockets just in front of him. As always, the Kuramon threw themselves in front of the rockets to block the projectiles. Each missile cleared the path for the next and pushed the wall of self-sacrificing Kuramon further and further back. MetalGarurumon's attacks cleared the path for Imperialdramon to charge in and slam into the sphere. Diaboromon's cackling stopped when the sphere shattered like glass - then it panicked as it was dragged out of the black sphere and held out in front of Imperialdramon. The Kuramon quickly rushed to protect their creator only to be diverted away by more of MetalGarurumon's missiles.

Imperialdramon saw he only had one chance, one opportunity to end this. And he wasn't going to wait around for it. Imperialdramon jabbed his cannon straight into Diaboromon's chest and roared, "POSITRON LASER!"

The blast shot through Diaboromon's chest, ripping the digimon apart as it cackled its last breath. With one last effort, it strained out its final words, "Misdirection Completed. Initiating Phase Two."

"What?" Ken gasped.

"Phase two? What's Phase Two?" Imperialdramon demanded. It was too late though. Diaboromon was gone.

"Alright, now what? Who's next?" Davis growled at the challenge at the surrounding Kuramon.

The room grew dark as thousands of tiny doors opened in the walls of the room. The Kuramon scattered in every direction, sealing the door behind them as they each fled past. Matt panicked, "They're getting away!"

"Forget about them! We have to get out of here if we don't want to get stuck!" MetalGarurumon shouted out. They scrambled in every direction to escape the room while taking out as many Kuramon as possible. Despite that, no matter how many they destroyed or tried to outrace, one always got through a door before they could. Before either of them knew it, they were trapped alone in a dark room with only each other. Davis frowned, "They got away! THEY GOT AWAY!"

Ken retrieved his D-Terminal and began typing away, "I'm going to warn the others. They'll want to know what's going on before they get overrun with Kuramon."

Before he even finished typing his message, his D-Terminal exploded with messages from Yolei, "Yolei says thousands of Kuramon just showed up in Tokyo. They're all gathering in the Tokyo Bay."

"Let's not keep your girlfriend waiting!" Davis answered, raising up his digivice, "Digiport Open!"

Nothing happened. Davis shook his digivice, smacking it in his hand and then raised if again, "Digiport Open!"

Again, nothing happened. Davis grumbled and examined his digivice closely, "What gives? Why isn't it working? Hey, what's this?"

Upon closer examination, the screen of his digivice displayed a new set of characters he didn't recognize. Ken examined his and found the same exact characters on his screen. He frowned on reading them, "Oh, that's not good."

"What is it Ken?" Imperialdramon asked. Ken frowned, "It's Ancient but I still recognize this symbol. I'd know it anywhere. Our digivices were just disabled."

"How do you just disable a digivice?" Davis demanded in confusion, "If our enemies could always do that, why didn't they do that before?"

Matt answered, "Last time we fought this digimon, Tamer said something about how they were smart weapons able to end worlds. It probably figured out how to disable our digivices."

"Okay, but then how did it survive our last battle?" MetalGarurumon asked. Ken posited, "We're not in the Digital World. Maybe because it couldn't reformat in Primary Village, its data was left to freely wander around the internet. Four years is enough time for it to pull itself back together."

"So what? The digimon just reassembled itself? How are we going to beat it!?" Davis asked. Ken shrugged, "Let's worry about that after we get out of here."

* * *

Armadillomon and Cody caught up to Yolei just as she tackled the little Kuramon to the ground. It was late now, and the digidestined were annoyed that there was always another one that needed to catch. Her partner joined her, helping to keep it pinned while shouting, "How can something so small be so hard to hold down?"

"Ew! Gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! It's disgusting," Yolei complained as she did her best to keep it wrangled, "It's all slimy! Cody! Sent this thing back to the computer already!"

"Got it," Cody said, opening up Izzy's spare computer to send the digimon back to store it. With a brilliant flash of light, the digimon was absorbed into the computer and vanished. Yolei breathed a sigh of relief before complaining, "I hate these things! How many more of them are there?"

As soon as she said that, another Kuramon scurried past. Then another. They followed the ever growing number of Kuramon down the street to see them leaping out of cell phones, televisions, computer monitors, lap tops, and electronic bill boards. Yolei shrieked, "What the hell!? Where are these things coming from?"

Cody looked up at each of the giant billboards before pointing one out, "Yolei, look!"

A larger screen hanging off the side of a building was no longer demonstrating an image of it usual ad, but footage of Imperialdramon and MetalGarurumon chasing the Kuramon out hundreds of open gates while the room they were in darkened. Yolei gasped out, "KEN!"

"I don't think we're going to be able to do anything from here," Hawkmon reasoned just as the last of the gates closed - leaving them stranded. Yolei was too distracted by seeing her boyfriend be trapped to notice the direction the Kuramon were going. But Cody wasn't and he followed them to see them storming towards the Tokyo Bay. Cody's mouth fell open, "That's not good! Look! They're heading out to the bay!"

"Then I have to warn Ken," Yolei replied, retrieving her D-Terminal to message him. Armadillomon pointed out the obvious, "Not for nothin', but what good is tellin' 'em gonna do iff'n they can't get out to help us?"

"So they will know what's going on when they get out," Yolei explained, hitting send on her D-Terminal, "Now let's hurry! We need to get to the bay and catch as many of these things as we can!"

"Right behind you," Cody said as they hurried off in the direction of the bay. When they arrived, it was to see a crowd beginning to gather at the bay's edge to watch as the millions of Kuramon simply sat on the surface of the waves. They bounced around, off each and the endless torrent without a care for their own safety and Yolei groaned, "There's millions of them! What are we going to do!?"

"At this junction, I would suggest that catching them is no longer an option," Hawkmon stated with a frown, "I would surmise that our only course of action would be to destroy as many of these digimon as we can before they start their digivolution process."

"But they're just kids!" Armadillomon pointed out and Cody added, "Yeah, and just one was able to mess with the internet years ago and nearly destroy the city when it fired a nuke. We can't wait for that to happen again. I don't like it...but we have to stop them."

"I...okay," Armadillomon quietly agreed with his partner, "I'm waitin' on you partner."

"Then let's get out there! DIGIARMOR ENERGIZE!" Cody raised up his digivice so that his partner could digivolve and Yolei did the same. Although they were in a crowded place, now was not the time for subtlety. Both Hawkmon and Armadillomon leapt out over the bay as they were absorbed by the bright light.

"Hawkmon! Armor Digivolve to! Halsemon, the Wings of Love!"

"Armadillomon! Armor Digivolve to! Submarimon, Reliable Guardian of the Seas!"

Halsemon swept over the waves while Submarimon disappeared beneath, and the peaceful waters rocked with explosions as they began attacking the Kuramon. The crowd gasped in surprise at the seemingly unexpected attack but the Kuramon remained where the were. They made no attempt to flee for their lives or get to safety, content to sit where they were while they were attacked.

"It's a good thing they're not moving," Yolei cheered, not realizing the concern that was on Cody's face. In fact, she began to worry when he asked, "Why aren't they, though? Something seems wrong. It's like…they know something."

That was true. Why weren't they trying to protect themselves? The other Kuramon did - they ran to protect themselves. So what was their plan?

"Guys!"

They both turned to see TK and Izzy racing to join them while MegaKabuterimon and Angemon raced by overhead. Seeing them rush in to join the fray was enough to make the entire crowd roar with approval. Both digimon joined the attack while Izzy came to a stop beside them gasping for breath, "I…need…to…get…out…more…"

"It's because you spend too much time in front of that computer of yours. Mimi may not like it if you don't keep yourself healthy," TK teased. Izzy tried to respond by raising a fist but was too busy gasping for breath to actually do any more besides place a hand on TK's shoulder.

As if the universe enjoyed teasing Izzy, they heard Mimi's voice say, "What wouldn't I like?"

Izzy suddenly jumped up and straightened himself out in front of the others, doing his best to not gasp for breath in front of Mimi. That didn't stop him from getting red in the face when Mimi walked up to him, "Hey Izzy. You're all sweaty, what happened?"

"Just…stressed," he managed to say in as few words as possible to hide how out of breath he was. Then Palmon appeared at Mimi's side to ask, "You sure it wasn't because you were running real fast?"

"Oh…shut up," Izzy frowned while turning to hide how red his face was. Mimi turned her head quizzically before looking back at the others, "So what's the plan?"

"We were trying to catch as many of these Kuramon as we could before it got out of hand. Now it's just destroy as many of them as we can before we have an army of Diaboromon running around," Cody answered, "But something's not right. They're not running away or trying to protect themselves. They're just…sitting there letting themselves be destroyed."

Mimi grimaced at their concern, but it turned to a smile, "You're over thinking it. Let's wrap this up and get some food, Palmon! Time to digivolve!"

Palmon nodded and let the light take her as she began to digivolve, "Palmon! Digivolve to! Togemon!"

"Togemon! Digivolve to! Lillymon!"

Lillymon soared into the fight and fired upon the waves of Kuramon. Again, nothing they did seemed to reduce the number of Kuramon who were present - nor did it do anything to make those digimon run away in terror. They seemed content to simply sit there and let themselves be destroyed. And the more they destroyed, the more unsettling it became.

"If they weren't afraid to be destroyed, why did they go through so much trouble to trap MetalGarurumon and Imperialdramon on the internet?" Izzy asked himself once he caught his breath, able to think clearly now. TK scanned the waves carefully and saw nothing to answer the question. All he could see was more things to scare him, "I don't know, at this rate we'll probably just-"

He was cut short when the Kuramon started to glow and gathered together in the air to create a small cloud. The cloud condensed until the light was so bright that lit up all of Tokyo. Yolei shouted, "What are they doing?"

Their digimon began attacking the giant cloud, concentrating their attacks to destroy as many Kuramon as they could before they finished what lever they were doing. Another flash of light followed and a thundering roar sounded, blinding everyone briefly. When they could see, they saw a large digiegg where the Kuramon had been before. Matt shouted, "What the hell? They can do that?"

Izzy's jaw hit the ground and he retrieved his laptop to examine the database for any kind of hint to explain this behavior. A quick run down of the database told him nothing he didn't already know. He looked up from his screen, "If they could, the Ancients sure as hell didn't know. There's nothing about this in their database."

"Great, what else could go wrong today?" Yolei groaned out in frustration, "What I wouldn't give to have WarGreymon or Tamer here right about…now."

"If only we could get Davis or Ken or any of them off the internet," Cody frowned.

"How about us?" Kari declared as she finally joined them. Gatomon ran up along side her and looked out over the bay, "We saw everything on our way."

"Sorry we're late," Joe gasped out as he rolled his bicycle to a stop beside them, "I've been pedaling all day and…I need a break. I think I've got my work out in for the rest of the year."

"Look at it this way Joe: you'll have some killer leg gains today," Gomamon added in the hopes of cheering his partner up. Joe merely groaned, "Yeah, and some killer leg pains."

He kicked out the stand for his bike and collapsed onto the sidewalk, trying his best not to pass out in the middle of such an important moment. Gomamon waddled to his partner's side to make sure he was okay before asking, "So what do we do now? Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the others off the internet?"

"We're trying to figure that part out ourselves," Cody answered. Behind him, their digimon were laying into the giant egg with everything they could muster but none of their combined attacks were able to put a dent into its tough outer shell. Gatomon looked up at her partner, "It's about time that we helped."

"Right," Joe nodded and gestured to his partner. Gomamon nodded in agreement and made his way to the water's edge, "Let's get in there."

"All together," Kari acknowledged and turned to Yolei. Without a word, the two understood what the other was thinking. Cody and TK swapped glances as well, calling out to their partners to return. As Hawkmon and Armadillomon, the two digimon were confused about why they were recalled until they noted Kari and TK's arrival. Then they understood.

"Hawkmon! Digivolve to! Aquilamon!"

"Gomamon! Digivolve to! Ikakumon!"

"Armadillomon! Digivolve to! Ankylomon!"

"Aquilamon! Gatomon! DNA Digivolve to! Silphymon!"

"Ikakumon! Digivolve to! Zudomon!"

"Ankylomon! Angemon! DNA Digivolve to! Shakkoumon!"

The two ultimates rejoined the battle, firing into the giant egg hovering over the bay in the hopes of finally bringing it down. Despite bringing their three new ultimate digimon into the fray, they were still unable to harm the egg.

Or so they thought when the first crack appeared. Then another crack appeared. Then another. The egg was cracked. Everyone paused for a second, convinced that they'd finally damaged the egg. Their brief moment of joy vanished when the first black spindly leg broke through the egg shell. It spasmed for a moment as it tried to get its bearings on the water's surface. Then another leg broke through the egg shell. When the third leg finally appeared, the egg shell shattered into a thousand tiny pieces and a large black monster of a digimon that made VenomMyotismon look small landed in the middle of the bay. The sheer force of its weight crashing into the water was enough to shake the ground around them, knocking everyone back.

Before it had a chance to attack, their digimon began attacking again - doing everything they could to take it down before it did any more damage.

"Flower Cannon!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Justice Beam!"

"Static Force!"

Attack after attack laid into the giant digimon that didn't even flinch in response. Its large bulbous eye darted around from one digimon to another before resting on the digidestined. It let out a thunderous growl and turned its head to look at them. Then it started moving. Yolei panicked, "Uh…should we be moving?"

"Definitely yes," TK nodded, trying to usher everyone away, "Let's get out of here!"

"Oh, come on!" Joe complained as he pushed himself back off the ground to join the escape. As they started to flee, a flash of light appeared beside the large digimon bearing down on them. Then a flash of light followed by a thunderous boom echoed. Something had struck the digimon. And when they turned to look, they saw MetalGarurumon ridden by Matt, Imperialdramon ridden by Davis and Ken, and WarGreymon charging into the fight.

"WARGREYMON!" Kari cheered excitedly as the mega began pummeling the large insectoid digimon with all his might. With each blow, WarGreymon roared, "WHY! WON'T! YOU! JUST! DIE! ALREADY!?"

When he saw his hits did nothing, he sped around and called out, "MetalGarurumon! Imperialdramon! Follow me!"

"What're we doing?" MetalGarurumon asked, going as fast as he could to keep up while Matt held on for dear life. Davis and Ken were just as frightened as Imperialdramon followed his lead. The giant digimon dwarfed them all in size, making them look like the insects in comparison. And the irony wasn't lost on any of them. But that didn't stop WarGreymon from rallying the other digimon to follow, "I have an idea!"

"Are you going to explain?" Lillymon asked impatiently, following WarGreymon anyway as he led them underneath the giant monster, "This has got to be the worst place to be right now."

"It's also the last place he'd expect us to hurt him! Quick! Knock his legs out from under him!" WarGreymon roared, rushing towards one leg and striking it as hard as he could. The digimon's leg gave under the pressure and it roared in anger. With that demonstration - MetalGarurumon, Imperialdramon, MegaKabuterimon, Zudomon, Lillymon, Shakkoumon, and Silphymon each went for a different leg to kick away. The large digimon groaned in protest before the combined might of their digimon partners were enough to throw its legs out from under it - and they raced out of its way before it crashed into the water with its full weight.

Everyone cheered as the digimon shot up a huge wave of water. But WarGreymon gave them no time to rest as he directed them, "Alright. Matt, this will be hard for you on your own but MetalGarurumon and I will need to fuse."

"Is Tamer here?" Matt asked, already suspecting the answer he was going to receive. WarGreymon shook his head and Matt understood, "What do I have to do?"

WarGreymon answered, "Concentrate. It's just you, but you should be able to do it as if there were two of you. The digivices channel emotional energy. You need to concentrate on the two of us becoming one - like what happened last time."

"You remember that?" Matt asked, annoyed that neither WarGreymon nor The Digimon Tamer had ever brought it up before. WarGreymon pointed out the large digimon starting to stand back up, "Not the time for this."

"What even is that?" Matt demanded.

"Armageddemon!" WarGreymon roared, "Now can we please fight it!"

"We're talking about this later," Matt clicked his tongue angrily as he concentrated as hard as he could on MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon fusing to become one digimon. The digimon who'd defeated Diaboromon before - Omnimon. Or Omegamon. Or whatever he was called. He concentrated as hard as he could but…nothing. The two digimon simply wouldn't fuse. And Armageddemon was getting back up on its feet.

* * *

Kari looked on in disbelief. They needed Omegamon. But nothing was happening. Matt had started waving his digivice around in frustration, but they wouldn't digivolve. He couldn't get them to digivolve together on his own. It was just too much for him on his own. And without Omegamon, they were doomed.

It couldn't end like this. Not after all they'd been through together. They couldn't fail. Not like this - there was…something warm in Tamer's jacket. Something vibrating violently too. She looked down and noticed something coming from on the front pockets. And when she reached inside she found an odd device - something resembling a digivice but…different. It had only a single red button and no screen. More than that, it had a note scribbled onto its side.

'In Case of Emergency, Press Friendly Button'

Kari stifled a smile, knowing this had to be her brother's work. It shook violently in her hand and gave off a soft warm glow. She clutched the device in her hands and pressed the button. A burst of light shot out of the device, scattering out towards WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. When the two digimon absorbed the light, they cried out in unison, "WarGreymon! MetalGarurumon! DNA Digivolve to! Omegamon!"

A hush fell over the crowd and Kari looked down at the device in her hand. She had no idea what she had done, or what this device her brother kept in his pocket was, but it was helping. And with any luck it would give exactly the push they needed to finally end that giant digimon rampaging in their city. Omegamon stood beside Imperialdramon, giving Matt time to move over to the other digimon while stating, " _Don't let him run. We'll go in and end him here._ "

Before Imperialdramon had time to respond, Omegamon was on the move - raising out his sword to stab at Armageddemon's legs so that the digimon didn't stay on any one appendage too long. Imperialdramon and the others retreated away to let Omegamon work, letting Matt, Ken, and Davis rejoin the other digidestined who were watching in a stupor. Izzy was the first one to meet them, "I'm glad to see you guys got out okay. What happened?"

Matt answered with a stubborn growl, "We were stuck! Our digivices weren't working and we were trying to find a way off the internet when suddenly this gate opens up and WarGreymon appears. He fixes our digivices, tells us he's going to open up a portal to the Real World, and the next thing we know we're fighting that thing. What'd we miss?"

"All the Kuramon fused together to become that thing," Kari pointed out, "Whatever that is."

"WarGreymon called it Armageddemon," Matt offered up sheepishly, only for Izzy to grimly answer, "There's no information on it in the Ancient database either. Which means they probably didn't know much about it including how to beat it, or that they knew a lot and intentionally deleted it to keep it secret."

"Which is worse?" Kari asked.

"Well that's just great," came a familiar voice. They all spun in place to see Sora dressed in her athletic uniform and wearing her tennis gear. Beside her was her partner Biyomon flapping her wings to stay aloft and happily saying, "Hey everyone! Sorry we're late!"

"Sora!" Kari said excitedly, but not as excitedly as Matt who went up to hug her, "I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too," she answered with a smile, returning the hug before pulling away to watch the fight unfold, "So what's the plan guys?"

"Well Omegamon's here so hopefully this'll be over quick," Mimi said with a big smile. Her smile was illuminated by a flash of light behind them and followed by another thunderous explosion. When they looked back at the fight, Omegamon was in the mouth of Armageddemon - using his sword to prop the mouth open while he fired his cannon down its throat, "EAT! THIS! SUPREME! CANNON! SUPREME! CANNON!"

Each shot traveled down the digimon's throat, illuminating its innards and organs through its chitinous armor as each shot exploded. Finally, Omegamon kicked himself away and slid along the water's surface while still firing at the large creature. Then he took off at a sprint around the large creature while still firing wildly away at it, "It's not going down. _I know that_. Do you have any other bright ideas? _Yeah, one. TRANSCENDENT SWORD!"_

He raised his sword over his head and raced towards the large digimon, leaping into the air and driving his sword straight between its eyes - only for the blade to crack like glass and shatter to pieces. Omegamon recoiled in surprise and at the turn of events and was left wide open for Armageddemon to begin his counter attack.

One blast was all it took to knock Omegamon back into the water. And then another sent him beneath the waves. Sora looked around at the rest of their digimon and called out, "Don't just stand there! We have to help him! BIYOMON!"

"On it!" the little bird said, flying out to do battle just as Sora raised her digivice. A brilliant flash of light followed suit as Biyomon digivolved from Biyomon to Birdramon to Garudamon. The large bird led the charge for the other digimon who raced in to help Omegamon, "Wing Blade!"

"Vulcan's Hammer!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Justice Beam!"

"Static Force!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Positron Laser!"

Each attack hit the large digimon, not harming it but creating enough of a smoke screen for Imperialdramon to race in and carry the wounded mega to safety. It was just in time too as Omegamon began regressing back to his prior forms of both Agumon and Gabumon who lay there unconscious. He rested the two digimon on the ground beside the digidestined before racing off to rejoin the battle against Armageddemon. Gabumon's head spun in place as he tried to make sense of his surroundings while Agumon slapped himself, "Wow, haven't taken a hit that hard in a while."

"Are you okay Gabumon?" Matt knelt beside his partner and placed a hand on his head. The little critter nodded, "Yeah...just...stop dancing, will you?"

"Okay, I'll try," Matt nodded with a smile, relieved to see his partner was at least still breathing. Then Kari looked to the little orange dinosaur, "So what happens now?"

"No idea," Agumon shrugged, "Tamer's usually the one with the plan, not me. And he's not around. My plan was basically wing it and hope for the best. I'm not as good at is as he is."

"So you still have no idea where-"

"No, we're on our own this time," Agumon frowned, pushing himself back up onto his feet and steadying himself. The little dinosaur then looked back out over the fight, "I've never seen that digimon before either. Heard of it but never faced it. If the Dark Masters had anything like that back in the war, you'd think they'd have used it more often. Honestly, the only plan I had is keep hitting it until it goes down. That has to work eventually, right?"

"It's not. I mean look," Joe gestured back out as their digimon scrambled around the large monstrosity - combining every attack they had to bring the gargantuan monster down only to see their attacks mounting to nothing. Joe then added, "Omegamon was our strongest hitter and he went down like nothing."

"What's with that attitude, Joe?" Davis rebuked the older boy, "Our digimon haven't given up and neither should we."

"Do you have any other plans because that was Agumon's plan and it didn't work," Ken countered, making Davis fall quiet. Then the boy smiled, "All the more reason to keep trying until it does work!"

"That's not how-" Ken paused when he realized who was talking to and sighed, "Never mind. Does anyone else have a better plan?"

Kari looked down at the odd device in her hand and thrust it into Agumon's face, "What about this? It turned you and MetalGarurumon into Omegamon! Could this work?"

"It just might," Agumon nodded approvingly before asking, "Where'd you get it?"

"Tai's pocket," Kari answered and Agumon smiled, "Of course. Why else would he give you his coat?"

Kari looked down at the coat she'd been gifted. She never presumed there was any hidden meaning to the gift beyond that it was a parting present to her. She also knew it was full of all kinds of odds and ends but she never expected any of it to ever be useful. Or that he'd planned on it. She smiled as she realized even when he wasn't around, he was still looking out for her. It was almost like he was here.

"What is it?" Sora finally asked and Agumon snatched the device, "Well, you know how I gave my energy to Imperialdramon that one time with BlackWarGreymon? Or how The Tamer did the same for Ken? Same thing. Only the device acts like a battery - it can store energy from anyone willing to give it and send it to anyone else."

"And the writing?" Kari asked, turning it over for Agumon to see. The little dinosaur turned his head as he read it and frowned, "That's his handwriting alright. I don't know when he wrote that. Never mind that, let's focus on using the device to redirect energy"

"Okay, how?" Kari asked. Agumon put a claw to his chin and mulled it over, "Well, you probably used all of the charge from when we defeated Apocalymon that one time so we'll definitely need more."

"That energy was from Apocalymon?" Mimi moaned, "I thought you said there wasn't enough energy for that!?"

"I never said that!" Agumon folded his arms disapprovingly and turning away, "Tamer did. And he lies. A lot and often. I thought you guys figured that out already? Forget it for now. Where are we going to get that much energy?"

"Where else?" Ken rapped his knuckles on the dinosaur's head and gestured out towards the other digimon busy fighting - MegaKabuterimon, Garudamon, Lillymon, Zudomon, Silphymon, and Shakkoumon. He added, "Between them, there's got to be enough energy to at least create another mega level digimon. Throw all of that into Imperialdramon and who knows what'll happen!"

The digidestined all looked at each other nervously until Cody finally nodded, "I don't hear any better ideas. I say we do it."

"Alright!" Yolei shouted out to their partners, "Silphymon! Fall back!"

" _We're a little busy right now!"_ Silphymon spat back angrily while she busily retreated away a barrage of blasts from Armageddemon's mouth. Kari insisted, shouting out to get their partner's attention, "We got a plan!"

"Say it quick!" Shakkoumon shouted over the roar of the explosions, "This guy's tougher than BlackWarGreymon and it's kinda hard to concentrate on dodging while we have to listen."

"We're pulling you all out of the fight! Leave this to Imperialdramon!" Davis shouted at the top of his lungs, earning him a collective, "WHAT!?"

"Me? What am I going to do?" Imperialdramon was just as perplexed by the announcement.

"Trust us!" Kari shouted too. Their partners hesitated for a moment, but eventually they all retreated away to rejoin them. Imperialdramon kept on a brave face as he was left alone to fight the large digimon now but that didn't stop the two digimon inside his head from bickering, "Okay, that's fine. _I can make this work! I mean...we can make this work._ What do you mean we? I'd be running already if I could get out of here! _Hey! I thought we were a team!_ That doesn't mean I'm stupid."

While Imperialdramon tried to hold his own, the other digimon began to prod them with questions.

"So what's the plan?"

"What are we doing?"

"Is it such a good idea to leave Imperialdramon on his own?"

"Guys!" Sora snapped at them to calm them down and get their attention, "We don't have a lot of time. We need to borrow the energy you guys use to digivolve?"

"What? Why!?" Garudamon asked. Kari was happy to answer her by raising up the device from her brother's pocket, "We're going to use this. It'll borrow the power of your digivolution and redistribute it to Imperialdramon?"

"How does that work?" Silphymon asked skeptically, frowning when Ken answered, "Tamer's Ancient Tech."

"Of course. Why am I not surprised?" Silphymon threw up her arms in frustration before asking, "So what do we have to do?"

"Just sit back and relax," Agumon smiled, "And maybe don't be flying in the air - if your rookie form can't do it. Whenever you're ready Kari, press the button to absorb the energy - then press it again to distribute the energy."

Kari nodded, thrusting the device forward in her arms, "Here goes nothing!"

A simple press was all it took and their partners glowed a soft white light that drained out of them into the device. As each light faded, their Ultimate forms were replaced by their dazed rookie forms. Against Agumon's advice, Shakkoumon chose to stay in the air and Armadillomon was left to fall a few feet onto Joe's gut, "Ow! Why me? What did I do?"

"Sorry partner," Armadillomon apologized and rolled off of Joe's gut. The device shook violently in Kari's hand now, glowing with the same energy it had just moments before. It was warm to the touch and gave her a comforting feeling that few other things did. She wanted to hold it safe and keep it close. But she knew she couldn't - not now. She aimed the device out towards Imperialdramon and shouted, "GO IMPERIALDRAMON!"

She pressed the bottom button and witnessed the light leap out of the device towards Imperialdramon. And it scattered through the digimon the same way it spread through WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. The knightly figure absorbed the light so that his armor bleached itself a pale while and he cried out, "Imperialdramon Fighter Mode! Digivolve to! Imperialdramon Paladin Mode!"

His new form was unapologetically reminiscent of Omegamon - all the way down to his pale white armor, wings, and golden trim. He even had a pale white sword to accompany his arm cannon now. The only discernible difference was that he didn't have the head of either WarGreymon or MetalGarurumon for arms. But that didn't make his new size any less imposing.

Armageddemon was made to pause at the sight of the new digimon form in front of him - its eyes darting every way it could as if to scan the new knightly digimon for any weakness. Then it took a step back before breathing fire at it, "Destiny Destroyer!"

The blast shot forth towards Imperialdramon, who reacted only to strike the blast back into the ocean with his sword. Armageddemon followed his own attack all the way to the water's surface where it exploded and sent a rush of water skyward. The blast was so large that it started to rain on everyone gathered to watch the spectacle unfold. And, for the first time, Armageddemon seemed afraid. It turned to flee from the city towards the ocean.

Imperialdramon didn't give him a chance, grabbing it by the tail and dragging it down into the shallower waters. Then it raised up the large insectoid digimon just to slam it back into the water. Dazed and confused, Imperialdramon saw the chance he needed to finish the fight and raised up his sword to strike a killing blow, "OMEGA BLADE!"

One stroke was all it took to end the fight - Imperialdramon's blade disappeared into the top of its skull and came out beneath its jaw. The digimon let out a single drawn out grown, its last dying gasp before it finally collapsed into the water and started dissipating into data. It was over. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode had ended the fight.

* * *

They were quick to get away from Tokyo Bay once the battle was over, escaping before the police could arrest them or the reporters could harass them with interviews. The only safe place any of them could think to meet up afterwards was the school building where they hoped to lie low until the police stopped looking and the press gave up their hunt. They gathered in the computer lab where Izzy first called them all together, buying their digimon snacks from the vending machines while they sat around to relax after a long day chasing down Kuramon and fighting Armageddemon.

As the digimon ate their many snacks, Biyomon turned to Agumon to ask, "So what're you going to do now, Agumon?"

"Have a couple more snacks, then head back to looking for my partner," Agumon answered between mouthfuls of food, "I found a shoe of his so that's a good sign."

"A shoe?" Davis asked, peering away from the rest of the group to face the little dinosaur. Even Kari's interest was peaked, "What do you mean a shoe?"

"Oh, his shoe," Agumon said, producing a dirty old sneaker from nowhere, "Found it where we fought Myotsimon - which mean he survived his reformatting and wandered off in a daze. He probably just now realized his shoe is missing and has no idea where he is. Or she."

"Where were you keeping that?" Mimi asked disbelievingly. Agumon put a finger to his lips, "Ancient secret."

"Wait, what do you mean she?" Gabumon tilted his head and Agumon laughed, "Oh, that happens sometimes. Don't worry about it. Besides which, not bad you guys. I can see why you got picked to be the digidestined - a problem showed up in this world and you all jumped on it right away."

"Not all the way. We got stuck on the internet," Ken pointed out. Agumon laughed, "You would've figured it out eventually. All I did was give you a push."

"And you helped Kari figure out how to use that weird digivice," Gatomon added. Agumon shrugged, "Yeah, but beating Armageddemon was all you guys. I didn't do a thing. You guys were amazing. You're really suited to this digidestined thing. Which is good - until I find Tamer, you guys are going to have to help make sure no more bad stuff happens. However long that takes. And so far, you're doing a great job."

Agumon stopped eating as his head turned towards Izzy working on his laptop. He dropped everything he was holding, and silently raced to Izzy's side so that he could peer at the screen. Then his jaw dropped further when he saw what was on Izzy's screen. Once Kari saw, it was hard not to understand why. Agumon's attention had been drawn by the photo on Izzy's screen, "Where'd you get that?"

Sora looked over too and her mouth fell open, "What is that?"

Izzy looked up from his computer briefly, then returned to whatever he was doing, "These were from Armageddemon - he emailed them to everyone when all the Kuramon were showing up. Actually, I wanted to ask-"

"That was our unit back in the war," Agumon answered sheepishly, "Back when the whole thing started. That photo was before our first deployment date - when we got sent to Aca'dehmia. Then they all got wiped out, one after another. In the end, it was just the two of us."

Agumon paused after that, but smiled anyway, "But that was a long time ago. Anyway, I should get back to looking for him before he hurts himself. Or herself. I'm not picky."

He made his way over to one of the computers and stopped to turn to Kari. The little digimon eyed her up carefully, until she realized he was examining the coat. The orange dinosaur smiled and added, "It looks good on you. Take care of that coat."

She was perplexed by that statement - as if Agumon had just admitted that he cared more about the jacket than anything else. But then she realized it was Agumon's advice to her. Tai had left that device in his jacket, and given it to her for her to use later on. Who knew what else could be in there and when else she would need it.

Agumon made his way to the nearest computer and waved, "I'll keep in touch you guys. Digiport Open!"


	9. Graduation Day

Kari stepped down from the stage after being handed her degree, making her way with the rest of her class back to their seats. This was the most exciting moment of her life. She had now graduated university. All she had to do now was enjoy her last summer break as a student and pass her teaching license exam. She looked up into the stands and saw her parents sitting there, along with Sora, Sora's boyfriend Matt, his younger brother TK, and her ex-boyfriend turned best friend Davis. The pride she felt was overwhelming.

Once all the graduates were seated, she heard the university president say, "Graduating class, you may now bring your tassels to the other side of your caps. Congratulations on completing your education!"

As soon as her tassel was turned, she joined all the other students in throwing their caps into the air and cheering. Once they were dismissed, Kari made her way outside where she met with her family and friends outside. Her parents both hugged her together, her dad saying, "Congratulations. I'm so proud of you sweetheart."

"My daughter, the teacher," her mom added, growing teary eyed at the thought, "You'll be so great at it."

"Thanks mom, dad," she beamed excitedly, before turning to Sora and Matt. She hadn't seen Sora in a long time and was happy she was able to make it. The first thing she did upon seeing the older girl was wrap her arms around her, "SORA! YOU MADE IT!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Sora answered. Kari pulled away and turned to Matt, nodding with a smile. The last time she saw him, he had a full head of hair. Now it was shaved completely bald which gave him a more rugged look that suited him - although she still had to do a double take every time she saw him, "It's good to see you too, Matt. How's the military treating you?"

"I really hate it," Matt frowned, "But forget about me. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Kari nodded. Then she noticed TK and Davis just behind Matt. Time had been good to both of them. TK had grown out his hair and taken to parting it in the middle, giving him a young and inquisitive look. Davis had grown leaner and more muscular from pushing around his noodle cart for last few years, as well as more tan spending all day in the hot sun. Kari's face lit up in a way she didn't realize upon seeing them and hugged them both, "It's so good to see you guys! Thanks for coming!"

"Of course, Kari," Davis answered happily, "Do you have a school lined up?"

"Yeah, I applied to be a teacher in a small school in Shinjuku," Kari answered, "How's the ramen cart?"

"Expanded and I got two restaurants now," Davis answered, "But I still work the cart, every day. Got to make these muscles nice for my fiancée."

"Fiancée?" Kari blinked, surprised by that small tidbit of news, "You're engaged? Since when? Why didn't you bring her?"

"You only had the six tickets and she said she understood she couldn't come to this. Besides, we trust each other," Davis answered sheepishly, "And she says she's going to join us later on."

Now it was TK's turn to chime in, "It always amazes me to see you guys so amicable. I mean, exes normally don't get along with each other but you two are really something."

"So how come you didn't graduate yet, TK?" Davis asked curiously, knowing that they all graduated high school at the same time. He should've been walking the graduation stage too. Instead, he was sitting it out. TK scratched the back of his head, "I got busy with my internship and fell behind in one of my classes so now I don't have the credits I need to graduate. But my internship said they'd be happy to let me continue coming in and helping out. But we can talk about that later, let's go out to celebrate."

"Finally!" a small voice whined from her mom's purse, and Gatomon poked her head out, "This purse is cramped and I can't breathe! Let's go somewhere private already!"

Kari scooped her partner out of the purse to hug her, "Okay, Gatomon. But you forgot that cats can't talk."

Gatomon didn't answer, instead purring busily as Kari stroked her back as she purred.

At that point, Matt cleared his throat, "Before that, I um…wanted to give you your graduation gift."

He reached into his pocket and produced a pair of tickets - tickets for a concert with his band's name on it. Kari blinked as she saw it, "Your band is playing? But I thought you were serving? When did your band find time to book a concert?"

Matt embarrassedly answered, "My unit commander found out who I was and it turns out he's a big fan. So he gave me a month on leave on the condition that I get the guys together for a new concert. Which we're doing. It's not a big venue since we're not officially back together but you will want those to come in and see us."

Kari felt her heart jump. She hated to admit it, but it took her until after Matt's band stopped playing to actually properly enjoy their music. And it made it even worse to know they weren't playing any more because it took her so long. Still, it was enough just to hear that they'd be playing one more time and she jumped up excitedly, "I can't wait! When is it?"

"Tomorrow night," Matt nodded happily.

…

Kari went to the venue with Sora, Davis, and TK. Matt provided them with VIP tickets so they would get to be up close on the stage and see Matt performing in front of them. Although he said it was a small venue, what he really meant was that they would be performing in a small theatre. And the theatre was crowded with people all trying to get in to see the band perform for the first time in a while. Kari was so excited after getting the tickets that she couldn't bare to wait any longer to see them perform.

And it wasn't hard to smuggle their digimon in either since Matt spoke with security about his friends bringing dolls to the concert. Gatomon, Veemon, Patamon, Gabumon, and Biyomon would have to sit in their laps, but they'd get to see them up close and personal.

They didn't have to wait long as the lights suddenly dimmed and a soft, evil laugh echoed around them. Kari jumped at first, until the laughter died down and Matt's voice came on at a whisper.

" _Feel good."_

Then the lights came on as his band was on stage. The bassist and drummer were playing melodically while the keys went along softly. Matt was the only one not playing, instead slinging his guitar behind his back while quietly singing along to the repeated melody from his band mates.

" _Feel good._

_Feel good._

_Feel good."_

The drummer and bassist hit their notes hard and Matt began the song proper,

" _City's breaking down on a camel's back._

_They just have to go 'cause they don't know wack._

_So all you fill the streets it's appealing to see._

_You won't get out the county, 'cause you're bad and free._

_You've got a new horizon it's ephemeral style._

_A melancholy town where we never smile._

_And all I wanna hear is the message beep._

_My dreams, they've gotta kiss me 'cause I don't get sleep, no."_

The bassist played out the last few notes and a silence followed until the keys began. Then Matt continued,

" _Windmill, windmill for the land._

_Turn forever hand in hand,_

_Take it all in on your stride._

_It is sinking, falling down._

_Love forever, love is free_

_Let's turn forever, you and me_

_Windmill, windmill for the land_

_Is everybody in?_ "

Then Matt went silent as the keyboardist ran up to replace Matt with his microphone. This was the signature part of any song his band did - to switch styles of music with the same melody. And somehow, his band always made it work.

" _Laughing gas these hazmats, fast cats,_

_Lining them up like ass cracks,_

_Ladies, ponies at the track_

_It's my chocolate attack._

_Shit, I'm stepping in the heart of this here_

_Care Bear rappin' it harder this year_

_Watch me as I gravitate_

_Hahahahahahaa._

_Yo, we gonna go ghost town,_

_This motown,_

_With your sound_

_You're in the blink_

_Gonna bite the dust_

_Can't fight with us_

_With your sound_

_You kill the INC._

_So don't stop, get it, get it_

_Until you jet ahead._

_Yo, watch the way I navigate_

_Hahahahahhaa_ _!_ "

The bassist and drummer continued while the keyboardist retreated away, laughing manically in a way that made him sound almost evil. Once he stopped laughing, he began playing on his keys a soft melody that fit in with the rest of the song. Then Matt adjusted his guitar, taking a few seconds to make sure it was ready before playing his part - a small, melancholic piece that juxtaposed the rest of the song just long enough to give the song a small glimmer of tranquility before he sang his part again,

" _Windmill, windmill for the land._

_Turn forever hand in hand_

_Take it all in on your stride_

_It is sinking, falling down_

_Love forever, love is free_

_Let's turn forever, you and me_

_Windmill, windmill for the land_

_Is everybody in?_ "

The keyboardist stepped away from his keyboard again to rap out his next verse,

" _Don't stop, shit it, get it_

_We are your captains in it_

_Steady,_

_Watch me navigate,_

_Ahahahahahhaa._

_Don't stop, shit it, get it_

_We are your captains in it_

_Steady,_

_Watch me navigate_

_Ahahahahahhaa_ _!"_

He began his long echoing laugh again over Matt as he sang his last few lines.

" _Feel good._

_Feel good._

_Feel good._

_Feel good._

_Feel good._ "

The song faded out with Matt, leaving only the lingering laughter of the keyboardist. The crowd cheered excitedly. It took a moment, but Kari understood this song better once she understood how his band performed. Whenever Matt and the keyboardist sang together, it was to make a point. Two sides arguing for different things. And in this song, they were fighting each other. Matt's part of the song seemed optimistic and hopeful in spite of a grim reality. But the keyboardist's lines were trimmed, dismissing everything wrong and promising a false peace, as if to say live with it because it won't change anyway. It was definitely the kind of song Matt would help make, especially after he and Tamer never got along.

Thinking on that made her freeze. She hadn't spared the Tamer a thought in a long time. Now that she had, she realized that she hadn't seen him in a very long time. And she had no idea when he would appear again. It hadn't bothered her at the time, especially since he promised he'd come back some day. She was just unsure when that day would be. It'd be nice to see him again, but she no longer missed him the way she used to. And yet, she couldn't help the empty feeling her chest as the thought came to mind.

Then Matt's band began their next song. A slower piece that was completely different. As soon as it began, an image was projected onto the screen behind the band - it looked like it was meant for a music video but the song was new, there was no way she had seen this before. As the video played, it showed children playing in an open field. Then Matt began his words,

" _Summer don't know me no more,_

_Eager man, that's all!_

_Summer don't know me,_

_Just let me loathe in myself._

_'Cause I do know, Lord,_

_From you that just died, yeah."_

As the video played behind them, the camera slowly began to focus on two kids. An older brother and a younger sister, who were probably no more than eight. Then the camera zoomed in the boy's eye, zooming back out to show him alone in the world. Kari blinked as she saw the video play, the boy running for his life as he was chased by monsters across a dark landscape, all while the monsters fought each other.

" _I saw that day,_

_Lost my mind,_

_Lord, I'll find,_

_Maybe in time,_

_You'll want to be mine._ "

The music video switched to showing the child hiding from the monsters behind the ruined remains of a tree, taking shelter from the conflict. After a second, the child peeked out from their hiding spot to see the fighting happen - the destruction the the monsters wrought on the world and each other. As it showed it all, Matt continued to sing,

" _Don't stop the buck when it comes_

_It's the dawn, you'll see._

_Money won't get there,_

_Ten years passed tonight,_

_You'll flee._

_If you do that,_

_I'll resolve,_

_To find you."_

The camera zoomed in again on the child's eye again, then zoomed back out to show an older boy. A child soldier fighting back against both the monsters. But with each monster he stopped, it became harder to tell him apart from the monsters.

" _I saw that day._

_Lost my mind._

_Lord, I'll find._

_Maybe in time,_

_You'll want to be mine."_

The camera panned skyward towards the clouds and smoke, then focusing on the sun. When it focused back downward, it showed the children playing in the field. All while, Matt continued to sing.

" _I saw that day,_

_Lost my mind._

_Lord, I'll find,_

_Maybe in time,_

_You'll want to be mine._

_Maybe in time,_

_You'll want to be mine._

_Maybe in time,_

_You'll want to be mine._ "

The video ended with the younger sister noticing the older brother was gone, while the other children continued to play unabated. It was then that Kari realized something. There were tears streaming from her eyes and onto her cheeks. She wiped them away quickly before any one could notice. She hadn't thought about her brother in a long time. Why did Matt play that song?

However, Gatomon noticed. And she asked at a whisper, "Are you okay, Kari?"

"Yeah," her voice shook as she answered.

...

After the concert, everyone headed backstage to see Matt and his band. They were chatting animatedly and toweling the sweat off their faces, relaxing after performing for the first time in a long while. As soon as he saw them, Matt abandoned his band mates and came over, "Hey, I'll catch you guys later. Sora!"

He ran to her first, giving her a long and loving kiss. Kari had to avert her eyes because of how long it carried out, but Gatomon didn't take her eyes off them. When he finally broke away, Sora pointed out, "You still got it babe."

"Thanks for noticing," Matt winked, then turned to Kari, "I hope you enjoyed your graduation gift Kari."

"I...I did," she nodded hesitantly. Matt sensed her answer and was about to explain when Davis spoke up, "What was with the song about her brother, man?"

Crap, they had noticed.

"I thought she would appreciate it," Matt offered sheepishly, realizing his present to her might've been a poor choice, "I mean we haven't really talked about it in a while and the last time we saw him was a long time ago. So I thought…y'know, she might enjoy a tribute song to him."

"So you made a song about him becoming a monster?" TK asked, "And what was up with the digimon?"

Before Matt could try to defend himself, a loud commotion behind him distracted their attention. Security was dragging a small boy out of a clothing rack while he argued with them, "Let me go! Let me go!"

The security guard grumbled, "Come on kid. You can't just sneak back stage. What's your name?"

"Ta…ka…I don't know," the kid answered, sounding confused but still continuing to struggle to escape. Security just rolled his eyes and kept dragging the kid along. The whole time, the child fought back until Matt called out to them, "Hey! What's going on?"

The security guard looked up at them and explained, "We found this kid wandering around back stage but he ran off before we could catch him. We just found him hiding in one of the clothing racks. I'll-"

Before he could get another word in, the kid sank his teeth into the guard's arm and the guard yelped, "OW! What the hell!?"

The kid used the chance to run, looking over his shoulder at the guard and running head long first into Kari since he wasn't looking where he was going. He may have just been a kid, but the look on his face said it all. He was scared out of his mind - and likely a run away guessing by the ill fitting and ragged clothing he had on.

Gatomon pretended to be a normal house cat and hissed at the boy who massaged his head and looked up at Kari. She knelt down to look at him at his level, "Hey there, what's your name?"

The look he gave back was one of confusion, and his silence spoke volumes. Either he didn't know the answer, or didn't want to tell her. And why should he? This only proved that he was a run away. And likely from an abusive family if she had to guess from his over sized and messy clothing. There was something familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. Still, it was important to at least put him at ease and she offered him a hand, "I'm Kari. It's really nice to meet you. And it'd be nice to know your name."

"Ta…Ta…" he paused, scratching his head. And she frowned. He really didn't know. Which made her wonder what kind of abuse he'd escaped from that his own name escaped him. It was hard to guess his age too, but he did seem scrawny for his size. She patted him, "Don't worry. We're not going to be mad. Why don't you come with me and we'll get you some help."

"Oh, I'm not worried," he seemed to have suddenly found his voice, taking Kari aback. He added, "See, the thing is..."

He paused scratching his head, "It's all...new...everything...and it's...different. The steering's off and...everything's calibrating."

"Well, that's good. I think," Kari nodded nervously, unsure how to interpret anything he'd said. But it was important that she keep him calm. If he panicked, he might run off again. She gestured at Davis to go call for the police while she helped the boy up. All the while, he added, "But that's okay. That just means getting to try everything again for the first time. It's just going to...um...to take a while to get used to."

He seemed more relaxed now, and she overheard TK add from behind her, "She really is good with kids, huh?"

"That's why she wanted to be a teacher!" Gatomon said, breaking her cat act. That alone took the boy off guard, his eyes grew and fixated on the cat with his mouth hanging open in stunned silence. Gatomon cursed her mistake, and Kari was about to try to explain only to watch the boy pass out in front of them. She would have too if she saw something that wasn't supposed to talk start talking. Thankfully, Kari caught the boy before he hit the floor.

By that point, the security had finally caught up and relieved her of him - promising to keep an eye on the boy until the police came to take him away. She frowned, watching them carry the boy away while wondering why he seemed so familiar.


	10. Her First Class

Kari'd never felt so frazzled and stressed in her life. She was a teacher and this was her first time teaching a bunch of students by herself. Kari came in early that day just to go over all of her notes and make sure everything was in order. She had her curriculum planned out for them from math to history, made plans for their development and growth academically, and even memorized the students roster so she knew every name and face by heart.

Yet here she stood, just outside the classroom door - she had no idea why but she couldn't get herself to just go in and begin teaching. This should've been easy. Just go inside. But something about teaching by herself for the first time unnerved her and the door became the most terrifying thing she'd ever seen.

She'd faced the Dark Masters, fought and defeated Myotismon twice, stopped the end of the world, gone toe to toe with darkness itself. But this? Teaching a bunch of unruly ten year olds in fifth grade. What could be worse than that? She'd brought her hand up to reach the door handle more than once, and every time she was unable to actually grasp it. Then, without warning, the door slid open.

And on the other side was a brown haired boy in a blue hoodie and gray shorts with yellow wrist bands. His backpack was on and he had a mischievous look on his face that vanished into fear the moment he saw her. She blinked, unable to believe one of her students was trying to sneak out on the first day.

"Ugh-" he sputtered out while she finally regained her nerve, "Where do you think you're going, Takato Matsuda?"

"Oh boy, she knows my name," he mumbled, stepping back from her. She followed him in and gestured back into the class, trying to maintain her composure while drowning out the frustration that came from knowing one of her own students had actually tried to sneak out of class, "Why don't you stand outside in the hallway if you don't like class so much? Or, you can get back in your seat and we can start class properly."

"Could I start class outside?" he asked, "I can move my desk in the hallway!"

She was not prepared for that response, or the smile that was on his face. It was like he didn't care that what he was doing was wrong. However, that did seem like a good idea. She didn't want to be like the teachers from before - who droned on forever in a boring monotone that put the class to sleep. That was why she wanted to be a teacher. To engage with kids and make learning fun. She patted his head, "I like that idea. Class, for the first day, we'll be having class outside in the grass. How does that sound?"

Cheers erupted in the classroom. She'd taken control of the situation and stopped this child from ruining her first day. He didn't seemed miffed though. He was smiling from ear to ear at her in a way that was more unnerving than anything else. Something told her she was in for an interesting school year with this boy.


End file.
